Cricketers who have represented their nations in Olympics

For the first time since 1900, cricket is returning to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. Only two teams participated in the tournament back then, and it was England, who pipped France to win the Olympic gold. 

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On that note, we look at a few cricketers who have participated in the Olympic games in the past.

Sunette Viljoen

Sunette Viljoen played one Test and 17 One-Day Internationals (ODI) for South Africa Women between 2000 and 2002. In fact, she also represented her country in the 2000 ODI World Cup in New Zealand, scoring an unbeaten fifty in just her second game in the tournament. 

However, she was a well-established figure in javelin throw, having already won two Commonwealth Games golds and one silver and bronze in the World Championships. Her biggest achievement was winning a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 

Brian Booth

Former Australia batter Brian Booth, who passed away in 2023, played 29 Tests for his country between 1961 and 1966 and also led them in a couple of matches. He had a pretty successful career, having hit 1,773 runs at 42.21, including five tons and 10 fifties.  

However, ahead of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Booth gave up cricket for a year and traded it for a hockey stick in a bid to win gold for Australia. Things did not go as planned as Australia failed to qualify for the semi-final, finishing second to Great Britain in the group stages.

Suzie Bates

Considered to be one of the best cricketers of her generation, Suzie Bates dabbled a bit with basketball as well, turning up for New Zealand in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Bates is the leading run-getter in Women’s T20Is and has the most runs for the White Ferns in the 50-over format. She has also hit 14 hundreds across formats, and moreover, her medium-pace bowling has fetched her over 130 wickets. 

She won the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award in 2013 and completed the double as ODI and T20I Cricketer of the Year in 2016.

David Acfield

While David Acfield never played for England, he had an excellent first-class career, picking up 950 wickets at 28.21 with his off-breaks – 855 of which came for Essex – during his stint between 1966 and 1986. Not to mention, Acfield also had 152 List-A wickets. 

Acfield, born in 1947 in Chelmsford, also plied his trade in a different sport. Acfield was a four-time fencing champion and represented Great Britain in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and then in 1972 in Munich. While he did not win an Olympic medal, he was a member of the British team that won gold at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. 

Claude Buckenham

Claude Buckenham was the first-ever Test cricketer to take part in the Olympics. He was part of the Great Britain football team that won gold in the 1900 Olympic games in Paris. The fast bowler played four Tests against South Africa in 1910 and finished the series with 21 wickets at 28.23. 

He also played 307 first-class matches, mainly for Essex, finishing with 1,150 wickets at 25.31. He died in February 1937 after a brief illness.

Others

Another Essex player, Johnny Douglas, won gold in middleweight boxing in London in 1908. He had a decorated first-class career, scoring over 24,000 runs and taking nearly 1,900 wickets. He played 23 Tests for England between 1911 and 1925, leading them in 18 of them.

In his only Test for England, Jack MacBryan neither batted nor bowled against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1924. However, he played a part when Great Britain won gold in field hockey in 1920 at Antwerp. He played over 200 first-class matches, out of which 156 came for Somerset, for whom he had scored 8,372 runs at 31, including 37 hundreds.

After playing a couple of Tests against India at home in 1968, New Zealand batter Keith Thomson went to Mexico, where he was part of the national hockey squad for the Olympic Games. He played 58 first-class matches for Canterbury, hitting 2,543 runs at 27.64. He passed away in Christchurch last year at the age of 81.

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