Sprinter Beast can’t wait to return as bowler Blake

Sports aficionados around the world may all be focused on the London Olympics and wonderstruck by the feats of Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, but if friends are to be believed, Blake, the 100 m world champion and silver medallist in London, is more concerned about how his Kitson Town Cricket Club is faring back home in the local league.

It has been that way since his school days in Spanish Town. Long before the beast impressions and his beastly work-ethic, Blake's coaches hardly broke a sweat in getting their ward to run fast. Nor did he for that matter. Scorching the tracks in overawing fashion always came naturally to the boy from Bogue Hill near Montego Bay. But there was one major issue they had to deal with constantly keeping Blake away from the cricket field.

Their efforts ended up in vain more often than not, close friend and childhood confidant Garth Garvey recalls, as Blake would escape to some park or field to indulge in his favourite passion regardless. And right now, Blake is anxious about how many matches he'll get to play once he's back, says Garvey.

"Yohan doesn't speak a word about the Olympics or London. He's desperate to play all the 50-over matches that begin in September," says Garvey who, along with Blake, attended St Jago High School, whose alumni include seven Olympic medallists. And Blake apparently can't wait to put on his whites and join his buddies at Kitson Town, which plays in the St Catherine Community League.

"London has been all about pressure. The Olympics is a high-intensity event. I want to go back to pure, stress-free sport and I'm going to get out of here as soon as this is over and rejoin Kitson Town. There are people waiting there for me," Blake told The Sunday Expressin London.

... contd.

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