NATHAN Baxter has impressed in his first season at Wanderers, boasting a safe pair of hands.

Before suffering torn wrist ligaments in early February, Baxter had kept a string of clean sheets including an FA Cup shut-out against Premier League Luton Town.

But Bolton’s number one has revealed that he could have made a career in another sport where catching is key.

Baxter, signed last summer after leaving Chelsea, was a talented cricketer in his younger days.

So much so, he represented Kent and the South of England. A talented batsman, Baxter, now 25, shared the crease with England international Zak Crawley. Australian run machine, Marcus Labuschagne and Crawley’s fellow Test star, Ollie Pope, the latter recently scoring 196 to register the fourth highest score by an Englishman in India.

Westminster born, the former Chelsea keeper also represented London and the East at the Bunbury Festival, an annual showcase for the best Under-15 cricketers in the country.

Baxter was stumped whether to pursue cricket or football. But a professional contract offer from Chelsea, where he had been since the age of eight, and the lure of a pre-season trip to Austria made-up his mind.

“I think playing lots of different sports as a kid has helped me,” the Bolton’s keeper told SportsBoom.com. “I enjoyed all the fielding training and that probably helped me with my goalkeeping as well.

“And with cricket, when you are standing there batting and you are hearing the sledging, it is no different to standing in goal and hearing the crowd behind you.

“There are a lot of similarities between opening the batting and playing in goal. One mistake and you are out, in a sense.”

Baxter never made a first team appearance for the Stamford Bridge side. But he was a member of the Blues’ 2016 FA Youth Cup winning side.

Teammates in a 4-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City included: Mason Mount, Trevor Chalobah, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham. He was also substitute the same year when Chelsea lifted the UEFA Youth League trophy.

To obtain greater game time, having to go out on loan didn’t phase Baxter. In fact, he embraced the challenge travelling to Dingwall in the Highlands to represent Ross County and taking the lower road to Yeovil.

There were also stopovers in Solihull, Woking, Accrington and Hull before Bolton stepped in to make him replacement for Burnley’s England Under 21 star, James Trafford.

“I played for lots of different managers, lots of different styles and in different leagues,” added Baxter. “All those experiences have helped me.

“I remember once I was playing as the goalkeeper against the (Chelsea) starting team and my defence had players like John Terry and David Luiz.

“Then I played in the evening and my centre back was like a bouncer in a local night club.”

History will show Baxter quickly endeared himself to the Bolton faithful with shut outs in his first two games against Lincoln and Cheltenham.

And for someone with a 2:1 Open University history degree and penchant for dates, he’s hoping 2024 will be remembered as the year Wanderers clinched promotion back to the Championship.

“Hopefully, we’re at the point where we can all move on together and progress up the football pyramid,” he added. “Playing a great style of football at a huge football club which I can hopefully call my home for many years.”