Wiki has a page of Jewish cricketers, none of whom I've heard of.
But this place says there was an Aussie test opener:
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/austra...cricket-602635
And more to the point,
Fiery Fred Truman.
It’s been a breathtaking summer of cricket and for supporters of the “old game,” particularly for Australian and English Jews. The latter were captivated by England’s World Cup victory in mid-July on home soil, the first time they have won that sought-after trophy.
Meanwhile, Australian Jewish cricket fans have been in an upbeat mood, after their country retained the coveted Ashes with a resounding victory at Old Trafford last week. Although this past weekend England bounced back to win the final Test at the Oval in London, leveling the series at 2-2 – the first drawn Ashes series in 47 years – the famous urn remains with its holders: Australia.
As well as being avid cricket supporters, Jews have played a pro-active role in the development of the game. The only identified Jew to have played in the England-vs-Australia contest is the Melbourne-born batsman Julien Weiner. Born in 1955 to Holocaust-survivor parents, one from Poland and the other from Austria, he played six Test matches (and seven one-day internationals), two of them against England in 1979-80. A stubborn opening batsman, he was unlucky to be dropped after scoring 93 in his last Test, against Pakistan.
Another Victoria-born Jewish batsman, Michael Klinger, has played international cricket for Australia more recently. The winner of a gold medal in 1997 at the Maccabiah Games as a 17-year-old, Klinger – known as the Jewish Bradman – was a prolific batsman, particularly in limited-overs cricket. When he retired from the Australian domestic competition – the “Big Bash League” – in 2019, he was the competition’s highest-ever run scorer. At the age of 36, Klinger was belatedly picked by Australia for a three-match T20 international series against Sri Lanka, in which he was the leading run-scorer.
No identified Jew has played Test cricket for England. But the great English fast bowler Fred Trueman (1931-2006), the first to take 300 Test wickets, spoke publicly in his later years about his discovery that he had apparently been born to a Jewish mother but had been adopted and raised as a Christian. He seemed to warm to his new-found Jewishness, albeit declaring that he was not willing to stop eating bacon sandwiches!
Recent genealogical research by his biographer, however, has cast doubt on Trueman’s apparent Jewish heritage. “Fiery Fred” apart, England has never produced a Jewish Test cricketer, though there have been a number of useful Jewish county players, including the Hampshire batsman Mike Barnard, who died last year.
The country that has produced the most Jewish cricketers is South Africa. Manfred Susskind, second in the batting averages in the 1924 Test series against England, took steps to hide his Jewishness. The first openly Jewish Test cricketer was the fast bowler Norman Gordon (1911-2014). When he ran up to bowl the first ball on his Test debut, a heckler in the crowd shouted: “Here comes the Rabbi!” Gordon was the leading wicket-taker in the five-Test series against England in 1938-39, but, somewhat surprisingly, was not selected for South Africa’s 1947 tour of England, possibly because of antisemitism. .....
India and SL have produced Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Christian and Jain intl cricketers.
I don't want to be racist after Corbyn told that England born and bred, Jewish MCC member that he couldn't understand English irony because Y*ds aren't properly English. {Like an English cricket fan can't get irony! FFS.}
But every other religion in the world makes the effort to go to India. Just sayin'.
Originally Posted by Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult
Wiki has a page of Jewish cricketers, none of whom I've heard of.
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