Jack Russell readily admits he misses the sense of anticipation that regularly came with being a professional cricketer and preparing for a new day's play.

But the 46-year-old former Gloucestershire and England wicketkeeper's second career as an artist ensures that he can still tap into the same rush of adrenaline whenever he unveils a new painting.

Russell this week took the wraps off his latest work, which records the first ball from the summer's historic opening Ashes Test at Cardiff's SWALEC Stadium.

And he said: "As a player, I used to drive to the ground with a real buzz in my stomach and would be thinking things like 'are we going to catch them up?' or 'are we going to win?'

"Unveiling a painting is a bit like that... you're nervous and not sure about the reaction you're going to get, but there is a kick to it all."

Russell made plans to paint the Cardiff action as soon as Australia's tour itinerary was published. "I just had to," he said. "Because it was such an historic moment for cricket - the first Test ever to be held in Wales, the Aussies, the Ashes - and it was also such a major moment in Welsh history too as Glamorgan had been working for years to make this happen.

"It was a real challenge because it had to be accurate and I had to get it exactly right."

So is he pleased with the end product? Ever the perfectionist, Russell admitted with a smile: "It's all right.

"I don't think I'm ever totally satisfied... you're happy at the time but then start picking holes in it."

His biggest dilemma came as the match reached a nerve-racking conclusion with Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar batting it out to salvage a morale-boosting draw after England had looked out for the count. He said: "It was very tempting to paint the scene at the end as it was the most exciting part of the game and the draw felt almost like a win.

"But I wasn't in the ground and still felt the magic attached to the first ball of the first session of an Ashes series.

"The match became a turning point for the series because if we had lost in Cardiff who knows what might have happened? The Aussies were absolutely gutted... not that I lost any sleep over that!"

Cricket remains a vital part of Russell's life and he's full of enthusiasm talking about Gloucestershire's prospects for next year and his work behind the scenes with a list of wicketkeepers, including recruit Jon Batty from Surrey.

He said: "Jon's a very exciting signing for us and will fit in beautifully. He's a top-class keeper and is still hungry to improve and learn more, while he's going to bring a lot of professionalism to what we're doing.

"The biggest thing of all is the contribution he can also make as a keeper batting in the top six. That gives us great room for manoeuvre further down the order."

Steve Snell, he added, will provide "great competition" for the gloves while Russell is also busy producing a second and third wave of keepers for the county, reeling off a list of names to look out for, from Oxford University's Richard Coughtrie and 20-year-old Louis Gegg of Frocester, to Marshfield under-13s' Patrick Grieshaber who has already been identified as an exceptional talent.

"The bases are loaded, it's now up to me to bring them through," he said.