Cricket ace Mark Ramprakash admits he’ll be fighting the nerves in front of a TV audience of millions when he appears in this years series of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

“It’ll be daunting,” he admitted. “I don’t mind being on TV playing cricket – that’s what I do for a living.

“But appearing on mainstream TV doing something I’ve never done before is a bit scary.

“An agent friend approached me about and at first I said ‘No. It’s not really me.’ But my wife urged me to go for it, so I did.

“Cricket’s been my life for 20 years,” added 36-year-old Ramprakash.

“So, I just thought it’d be nice to do something different – a new challenge.”

So, is Ramprakash hot to trot, when it comes down to the tango, jive and ballroom.

“No,” he said, abruptly. “I can honestly say I’ve never danced before – not unless you count in nightclubs at 2am in the morning.

“And no-one can really believe I’m doing it, because it’s not really in my character.

“But it’s a bit of fun. My teammates have certainly had a laugh or two about it.

“Mind you, they’ve only reacted how I would’ve if it was one of them.

“Darren Gough did it last year and was a real success, and showed what a nice guy he is. Hopefully, I’ll do well. It’ll definitely be worth watching.”