From Josh Hazlewood to Roger Binny: 9 cricketers with javelin background

Josh Hazlewood was a javelin thrower before becoming a professional cricketer. (PTI Photo)

New Zealand’s men’s cricket team is currently playing in the Zimbabwe T20 Tri-Series. They began the tournament with a win over South Africa. The Player of the Match was Tim Robinson, who made headlines with an unbeaten 75-run knock. But apart from his batting, he has also drawn attention for his past connection with another sport— javelin.

During his time at Wellington College, Robinson was a javelin thrower. He even won the intermediate title at the Secondary Schools Championship in 2017. However, he has now completely shifted his focus to cricket. So far, he has played 11 T20Is and three ODIs for the Blackcaps. He is known as a hard-hitting top-order batter. In the current tri-series, he batted at number three against South Africa. Before this, he made noise in the 2023–24 Super Smash, scoring 298 runs in six innings at an average of 59.60 and a strike rate of 187.42. He also smashed 139 off 64 balls against Otago—the second-highest score in Super Smash history.

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But Robinson is not the only cricketer with a javelin background. Here are other players who have been associated with both cricket and javelin:

Josh Hazlewood (Australia)

One of the most consistent fast bowlers in world cricket, Hazlewood was a javelin thrower before becoming a professional cricketer. He won gold at the National All-Schools Titles. He also did well in shot put and discus. For Australia, he has played 219 international matches and picked up 500 wickets so far.

Jeff Thomson (Australia)

Known as one of the fastest bowlers ever, Thomson was a school-level javelin champion. His slinging bowling action is often linked to his javelin background. He took 200 wickets in 51 Tests and 55 wickets in 50 ODIs.

Fanie de Villiers (South Africa)

De Villiers also represented South African Schools in javelin. But a back injury forced him to stop. In a 2011 interview, he said: “I could have become an international javelin thrower. I just hurt my back while throwing. I had a fusion - got big cuts on my back to fuse three vertebrae.” For South Africa, he took 85 wickets in 18 Tests and 95 wickets in 83 ODIs.

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Roger Binny (India)

The current BCCI president and 1983 World Cup winner was a javelin thrower before playing cricket professionally. In the 1970s, he held the Indian national record for boys’ javelin throw.

Sunette Viljoen (South Africa)

Viljoen started with cricket, playing 17 ODIs and one Test for South Africa women’s team. Later, she switched to javelin and became a silver medallist in the 2016 Olympics and 2011 World Championships. After not qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to COVID-19), she returned to cricket. She now plays domestic cricket and is yet to make a comeback to the national team.

Tazmin Brits (South Africa)

Current South Africa women’s team opener, Tazmin Brits won the World Youth Athletics Championships gold medal in 2007. She was even getting ready for the 2012 London Olympics. But, due to a car accident, her dreams got derailed and later, after recovering from injuries, she switched to cricket completely. She has played 106 international matches so far.

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Other Notable Mentions

Current Indian women's team cricketer Kiran Navgire won javelin medals for Maharashtra before taking up cricket professionally. West Indies women’s team captain Hayley Matthews was a medal-winning javelin thrower for Barbados in the Caribbean Games.

From Cricket to Javelin

Some current javelin stars also started with cricket. Indian javelin thrower DP Manu was a fast bowler in his school team in Karnataka before turning to athletics. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, used to play cricket as an all-rounder during his early days.