Jonny Bairstow is just the latest cricketer to have injured himself playing football on the eve of a match
Timothy Ellis13-Jul-2014Jonny Bairstow’s football-related ankle injury in Pallekele is just the latest in a long and ignominous list of cricketers who have crocked themselves by swapping one ball-game for another. Here’s a list of XI of the most notableMatt Prior
Prior to his retirement in 2014, the former England keeper spent some time training with Brighton and Hove Albion on an “anti-gravity” machine in a bid to regain his fitness. Unfortunately, Prior couldn’t defy gravity in 2009 when he suffered a back spasm playing football minutes before the Headingley Ashes Test. England subsequently collapsed to 102 all out – the equivalent of a 6-0 thrashing.Joe Denly
One month after the Prior injury, England’s think tank deemed it a good idea to have a kickabout before the start of the ODI series against Australia at The Oval. Unfortunately, Owais Shah crunched opening bat Denly from behind in what Andrew Strauss described as “a bit of a clumsy challenge”. Denly was immediately ruled out with a twisted knee. Owais was barely seen in an England shirt again. And, until his remarkable second coming for this winter’s tour of Sri Lanka, nor was Denly.Yuvraj Singh
During a pre-semi-final World T20 practice session in Dhaka this year, Yuvraj injured himself playing barefoot football, an activity that was apparently advised by the team trainer Sudarshan to break the monotony. However, when someone asked the Indian captain the reason for playing barefoot, captain Mahendra Dhoni said with a straight face: “Paise khatam ho gaye [We don’t have any money left]”.Rohit Sharma
Rohit’s Test debut was delayed by almost three and a half years after he twisted his ankle while playing football ahead of the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur in February 2010. Rohit insisted it was a great way to unwind during a hectic schedule, but some may think he would be better off indulging in his other love – fantasy football. Much safer playing from the sofa.Mark Ramprakash
Never a man to do anything without maximum intensity, “Bloodaxe” was crocked for months before the start of the 2011 domestic season. “I was playing in a game of football on Saturday,” he told the Surrey club website. “And, quite early in the game, I managed to get tangled up with another player.” How very diplomatically put, Mark. The result was serious cruciate ligament damage. Ramps said: “It is a very common football injury.” Mmm. But you are not a footballer.Marlon Samuels
Samuels could so easily have been destined for the Jamaican national football team. “I was going to Kingston College and playing football, but I injured my left knee really bad. The doctor told me no more football. So I went across the street to Melbourne Cricket Club and started playing cricket.” Marlon certainly has the soccer temperament, to judge by his regular on-field run-ins with opponents – Shane Warne and Ben Stokes among them – and his shirt-off celebrations in the wake of the 2016 World T20 win in Kolkata.Ellyse Perry
The glamour girl of cricket, Perry plays for Australia six months of the year and also has a contract with Sydney FC. This has caused some level of jealousy with the women in the poorly paid Australian leagues, given her celebrity endorsements. After suffering a scything tackle in a game against Melbourne Victory, the opposition were reported to have “sledged” her, saying she was too soft for football.Ellyse Perry juggles a professional football career with a cricket one•Getty ImagesMichael Vaughan
The former England captain has probably the dodgiest set of knees in sport, crippled by his inability to stand up without falling down. He suffered a twist warming up for the fourth day of Yorkshire’s game with Worcestershire at Headingley in 2009. Soon after, he quit the game entirely. However, he did score during a charity football match between the British and Australian cricket media in December 2014, virtually the only victory of that disastrous Ashes tour. We’ll gloss over the missed penalty…Shaminda Eranga
Sri Lanka were losing Test matches and players at an alarming rate when Eranga decided to add to the growing list of casualties on the eve of the Sydney Test in January 2013. Already shorn of fast bowlers Nuwan Kulasekera and Chanaka Welegedara, Eranga couldn’t contain his inner footballer and did his ankle. Replacements were flown in off the sub’s bench, but the tour from hell continued at pace.Kieron Pollard
Big-hitting Pollard was ruled out of the West Indies squad for the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014 after injuring his knee in a ”charity” football game. He was suitably reticent. “Football has cost me six months, a major career-threatening injury, so some things you just have to put on the back-burner, and you learn from that. At the end of the day, I still watch football. I’m a Manchester United fan, so that will be enough.” Hopefully watching the Red Devils that season did not put back the rehabilitation.Ishant Sharma
Ishant suffered a purple bruiser underneath his left eye during a football practice session before the third Test match against West Indies at Windsor Park in 2011. Praveen Kumar jumped in the air to challenge for the ball, only to catch Ishant’s cheekbone instead. It was surely unintentional, although the fiery Praveen has previous. In 2013, the medium pacer head-butted batsman Ajitesh Argal in a Corporate Trophy match between ONGC and Income Tax. Zinedine Zidane would have been proud.This article was first published in July 2014
