Usain Bolt turns coach for Australian cricket team in Ashes preparation

Ashish Peter - Senior Writer 18:08 20/11/2017
The most decorated sprinter in history is an ardent lover of cricket.

Australia‘s preparations for the highly anticipated Ashes series against old foes England might have just got the cutting edge after sprint legend and icon Usain Bolt conducted a training session with a few select players.

Hailing from Kingston, the retired sprinter has always been an avid fan of cricket growing up in Jamaica and he wasn’t going to miss any opportunity to wield the cricket bat himself.

Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar and Peter Handscomb were Bolt’s disciples for the day as they were put through the paces by the Jamaican at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.

The eight-time Olympic gold medallist conducted a session, putting the running between the wickets of the four players to the test.

Bolt was critical of the lack of ‘explosiveness’ in the cricketers’ running and said it was one of the aspects he wanted them to improve on.

“It’s all about explosiveness, and that’s one thing I’ve noticed with cricket…They don’t really have a lot of explosiveness when they’re running. They seem to always take off at a slow rate. Getting that right will definitely help people,” he told the Herald Sun.

While the four players were seen toiling hard under the watchful eye of the track legend, there was some time for games and fun too as Bolt showed-off his cricketing skills, embracing the opportunity to raise his bat after connecting well with one delivery in particular.

It was only fitting that the four cricketers and their coach for the day ended the session with a signature ‘Bolt’ pose.

How much good the players’ time with the Sprint King does to their Ashes hopes ahead of the first Test remains to be seen though considering Handscomb is the only one in the group to get a call-up.

Nevertheless, a chance to train under probably the greatest sprinter in history does not come about so often.

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