Usain Bolt believes he had all the ingredients of a good cricketer

Usain Bolt

According to Ndtv, Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, as a child use to dream of becoming a Test cricket sensation. He said that while growing up he used to idolize Brain Lara and Courtney Walsh.

Although after retiring from sprinting, he wants to become a professional footballer in a club in England. In his autobiography “Faster than Lightning”, the sprinting star has said that had he not been a part of track and field events, he would have eventually become a cricketer.

“I really liked the kids who enjoyed cricket and I would hit it off with anyone who had a bat and a ball”, says the athlete.

He believes that he possesses all the great qualities a cricketer requires- bowling with speed coming down hard on batsmen, a fast fielder and as a batsman.

“In cricket, when I bowled, I could come down on the wicket hard, with speed and I was quick in the field… At the age of eight, I was taking wickets of cricketers a lot older than me, guys that were 10 or 11 years old…It wasn’t long before I had opened the batting for Waldensia (his village school) a couple of years earlier than most kids even made the team”, says Bolt.

“I loved cricket but I never thought I could make anything of my speed other than as a bowler”, he says.

He loved the sport so much that he preferred missing his school because they opposed of him to play cricket.

“I was 11 years old and I was hoping to go Physical Education lessons, pick up my pads and bat and continue with my dream of becoming a Test sensation,” says the sprinter about his school days.

But it was his Physical Education teacher at school who moved him to track and field events.
“Bolt, if you do well in track and field, It’s on you and no one else. In cricket, there are other people involved because it’s a team sport….You could play well, better than anyone else, but if the coach has a favourite, then you might not get picked. That happens quite a lot in life and it’s unfair. But in track and field, you are the boss of yourself”, said the teacher to Bolt.

In his autobiography he has stated that once track and field is done, he is all set for football.

“I’m not saying I’m the next Cristiano Ronaldo but I’m a speed guy with skill. Imagine, what I could do with a lot of practice”, says the Olympic gold medalist.