FOUR AFL clubs have tested South Australian Sheffield Shield cricketer Ben Dougall with a view to selecting him in the NAB AFL Draft as a category B rookie.

Dougall played two Sheffield Shield and three one-day games for South Australia as a left-handed batsmen in 2010-11.

The 22-year-old has not played football for three years, having spent those winters playing cricket in England.

But Dougall was an outstanding junior footballer with the Ramblers in South Australia's River Murray League as a midfielder/forward, with SANFL club West Adelaide rating him so highly it purchased him from his zoned team, Sturt, when he was 15.

Dougall tested with one AFL club in April and another three clubs last week, two of them based in Victoria.

He stands only 172cm but is powerfully built, skilled and quick, having run 2.85 seconds for the 20m sprint.

Dougall's manager, Greg Size of Deliver Sports Management, told AFL.com.au that his client was committed to pursuing an AFL career.

"Ben is just an elite athlete who was an outstanding junior footballer before he put his football on hold to pursue his cricket career," Size said.

"But now he has got a real desire to see how far he can take his football.

"Being able to test with AFL clubs was a real eye-opener for Ben and he would welcome the opportunity to develop his game in a professional club environment.

"If he is given the chance, he will grab it with both hands."

Dougall played in an A-grade premiership for the Ramblers when he was just 16 and, again, at 18.

In his second premiership season, he was runner-up in the River Murray League Association Medal for the best and fairest player in the competition after kicking more than 50 goals despite spending much of his time in the midfield.

However, Dougall put his football ambitions on hold after he was selected in a string of under-age Australian cricket teams, including the under-19 World Cup team in 2010 that also featured Mitch Marsh and Josh Hazelwood.

Dougall is eligible to be listed as a category B rookie given he has not been registered in a football competition for three years.

The most successful category B rookie is Geelong tall Mark Blicavs, who abandoned a promising athletics career to join the Cats at the end of 2011.

After failing to qualify for the steeplechase in the 2012 London Olympics, Blicavs made his debut for the Cats in round one, 2013, and has since played 45 of a possible 49 games.