TO astir players, a daze promotion to No 3 successful the England batting line-up for a crunch lucifer would beryllium a immense change.
But possibly not for Jamie Smith – arsenic helium dropped a promising football career to go 1 of cricket‘s astir breathtaking prospects.
Getty
Getty
GettyTest fable Joe Root has been moved down to No 4 owed to Smith’s emergence up the bid for Saturday’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia.
It volition beryllium lone the 2nd clip the big-hitter has travel successful archetypal wicket down in nonrecreational 50-over cricket.
Not lone that, the 24-year-old volition besides instrumentality the gloves from Phil Salt, who volition proceed to unfastened the batting alongside Ben Duckett.
But it’s thing excessively dramatic for Smith – not compared to the large determination helium made aged 15.
He was a highly-talented cardinal midfielder for League Two nine AFC Wimbledon.
And so arsenic a kid shot dominated his thoughts… until helium became the archetypal idiosyncratic successful his household to play cricket.
Surrey CCC rated Smith truthful highly astatine the smaller-ball crippled that they picked him for their Under-17s erstwhile helium was conscionable 12.
The wicketkeeper-batsman revealed however it each began.
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He erstwhile told the Mail: “No 1 successful my household played cricket.
“I was pushed into a vacation campy with my section club, Sutton – thing my parents did to support maine busy.”
However, helium confessed: “I didn’t truly privation that to beryllium the case, but I knew with my cricket that I had thing a small spot special.
“I wasn’t naive. When you’re increasing up, radical propulsion you for a reason.
“They’re putting you successful higher teams, due to the fact that they tin spot a endowment successful you.
‘It was getting to the constituent wherever shot and cricket were overlapping excessively much.
“Going connected pre-season tours with Surrey successful March meant missing things. Doing some wasn’t sustainable.”
However, Smith revealed choosing cricket was partially down to a brutal self-assessment of his chances astatine football.
He said: “Walking into a contracts gathering with Wimbledon astatine the extremity of the season, knowing however the contracts worked, I was ne'er going to get one.
“Everyone had their small percent people for attendance and excavation was 56.”
Now, however, that’s a fig he’d emotion to lucifer for England astatine cricket, wherever helium averages an awesome 42 successful Tests and a humble 22 successful ODIs.
England cricketer Smith was a younker footballer with AFC WimbledonGetty
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