By Dan Harrison

Brett Holman is ready to have a ball in the Barclays Premier League - after resisting the chance to follow his family's rich cricketing tradition.

Villa's new signing revealed his sporting career could have taken a different direction because his brother, father and grandfather were all accomplished cricketers.

In fact his grandfather once played against legendary Australian bastman Sir Don Bradman.

But Holman opted to pursue a career in football and spent the best part of a decade honing his skills in Holland before moving to Villa Park.

Now he is determined to continue his impressive start for Paul Lambert's team after scoring a classy winner in Saturday's friendly victory at Burton Albion.

"I wasn't bad at cricket when I was younger. I gave it a go," said Holman.

"My father was big into his cricket - and my brother was as well - so I think he would have liked to have made a cricketer out of me, but I chose something different!

"But seriously, they have been very supportive of my football career.

"They will be over in the next couple of months to see my son who was born recently and I'm sure my dad will want to catch a couple of games of cricket while he's over here.

"It will be good to have them over."

Holman was a sporting all-rounder growing up in Bankstown, Sydney but he hasn't looked back since deciding to focus on football.

"In Australia you grow up with a range of sports - with cricket, tennis, rugby league and stuff," he said.

"You do them all at school, but it reaches a stage where you have to choose what sport you want to give a real crack.

"I had to choose between cricket and football.

"Most of my mates played football so I went that way because they did really.

"Obviously then it starts to get a bit more serious the higher I went and the older I got.

"Then you are forced to make a decision.

"I think it would have been about 12 or 13 when you play both sports and had to make a choice.

"On the Saturday you would be playing football and then cricket on a Sunday.

"And then you start to think 'What do I really want?' and you get the New South Wales institute of sport asking you to come down to train then you really have to think about what you want."

The 28-year-old can't wait to get his Premier League adventure underway after making a bright start to life in B6.

"This is a great opportunity for me to prove myself in England and show the fans what I can do," added Holman.

"There was interest from clubs in other countries but my agent is English and once this popped up I didn't have to think about it.

"Once everything was sorted I was really happy to come here.

"It's been great to get to know the lads and I can't wait until the Premier League season starts."

Full guide to Villa's USA tour 2012 - click here.

Don't miss out on Paul Lambert's Villa Park debut against Everton - click here.