HASLINGDEN professional Dan Christian has no troubles handling himself out in the middle - that's because the big hitter used to hand out hard knocks on the rugby pitch.

The 24-year-old from Narrandera, five hours from Sydney, grew up on a staple diet of cricket in the summer and rugby league in the winter.

And with dad Clem a major force in the forward line for Sydney side Newtown Jets, he received plenty of encouragement to pursue a career with the oval ball.

Not that he needed any encouragement.

Christian played in the Harold Matthews Cup alongside New Zealand Test forward Frank Pritchard and, in his final year at school, was St Gregory's starting five-eighth in a team that included Melbourne's grand final forward Ryan Hoffman.

In the end though, a place in the Australian under-19s team convinced him to persist with cricket at a time when league teams were keen to sign him.

He said: "Cricket is our national sport in the summer time. That's what all the kids do in summer. You play whatever code of football it is, whether it is rugby league, soccer or Australian Rules, in the winter time, and you play cricket in the summer.

"I played my footy in the winter time as well, but cricket seemed to go a bit better for me so I stuck with that. Especially when I moved to Sydney, more opportunities seemed to come up there, especially with New South Wales. It's just been a natural progression.

"My dad and my uncle both played at a pretty good level of rugby league in Sydney.

"They probably pushed me more towards rugby league than cricket but I was going better at my cricket so it seemed the natural thing to follow.

"I saw myself progressing a little bit more in cricket so it was an easy decision to make.

"I really enjoyed my footy at school, but this is a lot safer. I won't get my head knocked off every week so it's worked out alright."

Not that he's lost any of his physical presence or aggression.

Christian has been described in his native Australia as the second-hardest hitter of a ball behind the awesome Andrew Symonds.

And, while it's a comparison he's happy to accept, he freely admits he has to focus more on his game to become a more consistent player.

He said: "I'd love to be half as good as Symonds. But he's someone I suppose I can look at in the way he's gone. He's gone through the Australian one-day team and done really well there and pushed himself into the Test team just by being consistent.

"He's one I can definitely try to follow.

"I do swing pretty hard at it sometimes, it depends on the situation in the game. That's one of the things that I also need to curb a little bit by playing over here in these conditions, because the wickets are a lot slower and you can't go at the ball as hard here as you can at home.

"I'm quite an aggressive player. I like to keep the game flowing, both when I'm bowling and batting. I like things to be happening.

"I like trying to take wickets and always trying to score runs.

"Curbing those things is probably the biggest challenge for me and just making myself more consistent by doing that."

Christian has worked his way through the New South Wales Under 17 and 19 teams, and his form saw him selected for the all-conquering Australian Under 19 team in New Zealand back in 2002.

The right-hand batsman played in all the group games against West Indies, Scotland and Kenya, taking a couple of wickets in each match and scoring 93 in his one and only innings.

But such was the talent in the squad, he missed out on the semi-final and final against South Africa.

Now he is hoping a summer spent in East Lancashire can force his way into the four-day reckoning, although the Aussie, who spent last summer in the Kent League with Bromley, admitted he knew very little about Haslingden before arriving from Down Under.

He said: "It was through Geoff Lawson (coach in Australia and former Haslingden pro) and also Brad McNamara who played here a few years ago (on three separate occasions) and Matthew Mott who played for Rawtenstall.

"Haslingden contacted me through Cricket New South Wales and Matthew Mott who is now the 2nd XI coach there. He passed on the information.

"Haslingden then spoke to Geoff and Brad. They both said some good things about the place so it was an easy decision to make in the end.

"They spoke very highly of the place and they thought it would be beneficial for me."