The USA's down under wonder
He was born in London, grew up playing cricket in Australia, but now, aged 22, Josh Wells is living his dream, pitching for the Class A Lansing Lugnuts in the USA.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
He was born in London, grew up playing cricket in Australia, but now, aged 22, Josh Wells is living his dream, pitching for the Class A Lansing Lugnuts in the USA.
“I played cricket until I was 16 and sort of lost interest. One of my mates played baseball, and he asked me to come along to a tryout. The coaches said, 'Oh, you're tall, you want to get on the mound?' Because I played cricket, I obviously had a stronger arm than the other kids. And all of a sudden it was, 'Who's this Josh kid?' “
Wells knew so little about the sport that he secretly turned to the internet to read up on the rules and set his alarm to watch US baseball in the early hours on TV.
"Cricket in Australia is like baseball here - it's huge. So I went pretty much from the biggest sport to the smallest sport, which was pretty ridiculous for many. When I signed to play baseball in America, my friends were like, 'Baseball?' "
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa