Townsend was in his mid 30s when he established a spot for himself in the state cricket team, by which time his football career had ended.

An interstate representative at the 1908 Melbourne Carnival, Townsend had one of his best league seasons in 1909 when he topped the SAFL goal-kicking list.

[2] With his football career almost over, Townsend was recalled to the South Australian cricket team in 1918/19, after an eleven-year gap between appearances.

[6] He had nonetheless become just the third South Australian cricketer to take a five wicket haul and score a century in the same first-class match.

Eight of the nine previous instances that feat had been achieved for South Australian were from Norwood footballer and Test cricketer George Giffen.