IAN WARD is now the face of Sky Sports’ cricket coverage – but he used to do something very different.

The 50-year-old was a left-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium bowler himself during his playing days for Surrey and Sussex.

Ward also played five times for the England Test team in 2001 under the captaincy of his future Sky Sports colleague Nasser Hussain.

However, he has now revealed that things may have turned out a lot differently after he was axed by Surrey at the age of 20.

Ward wrote to all 18 counties to try and earn himself another opportunity in cricket.

He told The Independent: “I went off and had trials with Gloucestershire – they didn’t want me back.

“I had a couple of games at Worcestershire 2s and did OK but without playing spectacularly.

“I even played with Andy Flower who was in the 2s at the time. Imagine that? But yeah, none of them were interested.”

That forced him into other fields in order to earn an income over the following five years – and he performed a wide variety of jobs.

Ward said: “I played a bit of club cricket and helped out Neil Stewart – Alec’s brothers – at an indoor cricket centre.

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“I worked at a petrol station, behind a bar. I cleaned aircraft. Not cleaning the windshields with a sponge and bucket. But the insides – going in and clearing the mess in there after long haul flights.

“Seriously, we’ve all done long-haul flights. Next time you’re on one, look back when you’re going along.

“The mess that is left behind… f***. That wasn’t much fun. But anything to pay the rent.”

Fortunately for him he was offered another lifeline by Surrey’s second team coach Tony Piggott and accepted his offer of a trial match.

That led to a successful spell in South London that included three Championship titles in four years before he joined Sussex at the end of 2003.

He was only there for two years before he was offered the chance of a permanent gig at Sky and he has now gone to become the face of their cricket coverage.

Ward said: “I think I realised it was one to learn on the job.

“I don’t think you can go on courses for this stuff. I think you’ve got to get in and try it. Work it yourself.

“It’s a steep learning curve but it’s probably the way to do it. And the worst that could happen is you look like a t**.”