JASON Gillespie's face contorted with pain as he lay on the ground in Kandy, Sri Lanka, staring down at the wreckage of his injured leg.

His collision with Australian team-mate Steve Waugh had left him nursing a fracture -- another cruel set-back in an already injury-plagued career.

In such times of adversity it's tempting to wallow in your own self-pity.

For Gillespie, however, it was the thought of an innocent young five-year-old girl which brought his life sharply into focus.

The 25-year-old pace bowler may be your archetypal fire-breathing Aussie who likes nothing better than to vent his wrath on matchfixers or bolshie batsmen who dare to stare him in the face.

But scratch away at the surface and you reveal a gentle giant with a heart the size of a manhole cover.

Gillespie was just 19 when he woke up one morning to find he was soon to be a father.

Instantly, his life changed over night.

Now he lives for his five-year-old daughter, Sapphire.

And he admits he loves nothing more than to play the doting father.

"There was an amazing difference in me from before I had a child to after," said Gillespie.

"You just realise that you've got so many responsibilities.

"It was scary but exciting at the same time.

"Obviously, at 19 you don't plan to have a child.

"But it happened and it made me grow up over night. "I was there at her birth, I gave her her first bath, I cut the umbilical cord and I absolutely loved all that.

"And I love her to bits -- she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, that's for sure.

"I certainly don't regret it in any way.

"I've got a beautiful little girl and I look up to her. She's just magnificent.

"She's actually quite sick. She suffers from chronic asthma which means she's in and out of hospital quite a bit.

"But she's my inspiration -- a little legend.

"When I broke my leg I felt a bit sorry for myself and kept asking myself why me?

"But then I'd go to visit my daughter in hospital and quickly realise it's not all bad."

The strain of becoming a teenage father and balancing a flourishing Cricket career sadly cost him the chance of happiness with Sapphire's mother.

Gillespie is not a man to lick his wounds, however, and he remains philosophical.

"Relationships end sometimes and it was just one of those things -- we were just two very different people who wanted different things.

"Cricket was a big part of my life and what I wanted to do so that was very important to me.

"And we ended up drifting apart, probably because of it.

"But I still have regular contact with my daughter and I'm on good terms with her mother."

Gillespie's fascination with cricket first started when he was a kid in Sydney. The eldest of three sons, his parents had hoped he would become a soccer player.

But, when the family moved to Adelaide, Gillespie used to make a detour on his way home from school to watch one of his childhood hero.

"After school I would catch a bus into the Adelaide Oval and watch the afternoon session in the Sheffield Shield.

"They had a bowler called Shane George who was one of my heroes when I was young and I was fortunate enough to play a couple of seasons with him when I grew up.

"But, in those days, all my heroes were fast bowlers.

"I loved Craig McDermott and Merv Hughes. And Dennis Lillee when I was really young.

"I also wish I'd seen more of Rodney Hogg because I loved his style."

"But I must admit I loved watching all the West Indian quicks, too, operating in the four-pronged pace attack.

"I just found that magnificent and I loved them pushing off the sightscreen, racing in and bowling bouncers.

"That really excited me." It wasn't long before Gillespie started emulating his heroes as he quickly developed into one of Australia's finest contemporary fast bowlers. Having successfully harnessed his combination of accuracy and fearsome pace, he was earmarked for bigger things from the moment he broke into the South Australia team during the mid 90s.

And the dream was duly fulfilled when he was selected as a member of Australia's World Cup squad in 1996.

Yet, around some excellent performances at home and in South Africa, England and the Caribbean, he has been hampered by a string of unfortunate setbacks.

Ominously, he sustained a serious back strain in only his second Test, and the subsequent development of stress fractures in that part of his body was then compounded by a series of ankle injuries. Other niggling injuries also beset him on a consistent basis for the following two years.

And, just when he looked set to end his debilitating streak of misfortune, came the breaking of his leg and the weakening of his wrist in the infamous on-field collision with Waugh in the First Test between Australia and Sri Lanka at Kandy in September last year.

Now, he has come over to Rishton to launch his latest comeback in the Lancashire League.

And, so far, everything is going to plan.

"Considering I had an operation in March to remove the pin out of my leg, I've been really happy with the way I've bowled.

"The last couple of games I haven't taken many wickets but that was always going to happen."

"You can't expect to take four or five wickets every time you bowl.

"But I'm really enjoying my time here.

"It's been a bit of an eye opener but a lot of fun.

"The grounds are a lot different to the ones I'm used to playing on back home but I like to think of it as a learning curve."

Away from the game, Gillespie is a complex character. Known to his team-mates as Dizzy -- after Dizzy Gillespie the jazz singer -- his interests range from collecting wine to watching WWF wrestling.

"I love WWF -- I can't get enough of it.

"I just think it's really, really good entertainment," said Gillespie.

"I know people say it's fake and all that, and you can tell it's choreographed. "But I don't see it as being any different than a soap opera.

"The Rock is easily my favourite wrestler -- I think he's great."

Yet, despite his gentle giant persona off the pitch, he is a fiercely competitive character on it.

Winning is everything to him.

And, standing at 6ft 5in in height, he is prepared to go to any lengths to get what he wants.

"I don't go out to deliberately hurt people. I go out to take wickets and win cricket matches for my side," said Gillespie.

"But if someone is peeing me off then I'll give them a few around their throat and try and hit them and hurt them.

"If they've got a problem with that then that's tough, because I'm there to win.

"That might sound like a crass thing to say but batsmen have got so much protection these days, it's become a batsman's game.

"The way wickets are and the rules in one day cricket with wides and everything -- it really is in the batsman's court.

"Over here in the Lancashire League where the ball doesn't bounce very hard it's a bit difficult to intimidate batsmen. "Book look out if there's a bouncy wicket.

"And if someone annoys me then there will be trouble.

"I don't like cocky batsmen who give me grief or maybe swagger in a funny way.

"And I can't stand batsmen staring at me.

"I tend to bowl really well if people try to intimidate me."

Gentlemen of the Lancashire League, you have been warned!