Australian Open BTS: Tennis star Ash Barty flaunts cricketing skills; video goes viral

Athletes trying their hand at playing the gentleman's game isn't new. Australia's tennis superstar Ashleigh Barty was also spotted flaunting her cricket skills in a widely-circulated video on Twitter. The official handle of the Australian Open shared a few videos where Barty was batting, keeping the wickets and rolling her arm as well.

The 25-year-old Barty, who is set to face Madison Keys in the semi-final of the Australian Open, was once a professional cricketer too. She took a break from her tennis career in 2014 and a year later signed to play in the Women's Big Bash League, Australia's elite T20 competition. She turned up for Brisbane Heat, a popular franchise that has teams in both the women's and men's BBL.

Barty, who had no formal training in the sport, played a total of 10 matches and had the highest score of 39 for the Heat. She soon realised that her calling was not cricket and switched back to tennis.

"It truly was an amazing period of my life," Barty had said about her cricket career back in a 2019 interview.

"I met an amazing group of people who couldn't care less whether I could hit a tennis ball or not. They accepted me, and they got to know Ash Barty. They got to know me. I still have those relationships to this very day. I got an amazing amount of messages over the last couple of days from those cricket girls who were some of my best friends."

Here's the latest video of Ashleigh Barty playing cricket:

The world number one Barty on Tuesday Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-0 in just 63 minutes to reach her fourth Grand Slam semifinal. She is bidding to become the first Australian woman to clinch the Australian Open title in Melbourne since Chris O'Neil in 1978. She will face Madison on Thursday for a spot in the final.

Barty's recent show in the Australian Open also earned her praise from cricketer Steve Smith, who said that the tennis superstar is doing exceptionally well at the moment.

"She's playing very well and has been outstanding. She gets the opposition players where she wants to get them. She's doing exceptionally well at the moment," said Smith in his Instagram live.

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