Usain Bolt helps Australian cricketers with 'explosive' running ahead of the Ashes

Ahead of the Ashes series, Australian cricketers were seen learning pointers on sprinting from none other than the fastest man on the planet- Usain Bolt. The Jamaican athlete, who has now retired from competitive sprinting, passed on tips to the Aussie batsmen on improving their running between the wickets. The 31-year-old athlete made the cricketers cover yards at a good pace.

It was a promotional event where Gatorade, in association with Eleven and TBWA Sydney, teamed up with Bolt to create a new metric, which will observe the batsmen’s speed while running between the wickets. The ‘Bolt rate’ will be considered as a measure and the quickest cricketer will bag the ‘Gatorade Fastest Run Trophy’.

Sprint king makes the cricketers train hard

“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,” Bolt was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun newspaper. “They seem to always take off at a slow rate. Getting that right will definitely help people.”

Handscomb puts his focus on the Ashes

Peter Hanscomb was the only member of the Ashes squad present at the event. “He was giving us a few pointers on how to get a little bit faster. We’ll give it a crack. He was trying to get us nice and low in the turn and in and out. The first couple of steps are key and if we can get them right, we’ll be fast.” he said.

With Australia set to take on Joe Root’s men in the 1st Test in Brisbane, Handscomb feels it would be good to use Bolt’s tips and see if it can help them clinch the title this time. “Obviously he’s the fastest man ever so if we can have the title with him, that’d be cool.”