The Ashes: 5 England-born cricketers who played for Australia and vice-versa

#1 Billy Midwinter (England & Australia)

Billy Midwinter is one of only five players to have represented both England and Australia

In all, fourteen cricketers have played for two different teams at Test level. Of those, as many as five players have represented both England and Australia. Billy Midwinter began the dual-nationality trend in cricket by becoming a trailblazer of sorts. Born in St Briavels, he emigrated to Victoria and gained entry into the Australian team less than three years into his first-class career. After featuring in the 1877 Test series at home (depending on how one looks at the sense of the word), the seam all-rounder switched allegiance and turned out for England during the 1881/82 series Down Under.

By the time he traded teams once again, plenty had happened in the cricket world. Not least, England had suffered a shock defeat at The Oval which subsequently gave birth to the Ashes folklore. Not perturbed by the terse circumstances surrounding him in the game, Midwinter returned to play for Australia. Apart from the one-off success in Sydney, his bustling medium pace and handy lower-order batting could not prevent the Aussies from sliding to series defeats at the hands of England in 1884 and 1887.

Place of Birth

St Briavels, Gloucestershire (England) - June 19, 1851

Ashes Series

Playing for England

*1881/82 in Australia

Playing for Australia

*1877 in Australia

1883 in Australia

1884 in England

1887 in Australia

(*Note: The 1877 and 1881/82 series between Australia and England happened before the Ashes legend was born)