Ryan Sidebottom follows suite in Flintoff’s footsteps, announces retirement
Ryan Sidebottom, the 32-year-old bowler for England has announced his retirement from international cricket, and it marks the end of the career for an extremely talented bowler who unfortunately could not enjoy much time playing for the national side. During
the little time that he did play for England, Ryan’s statistics do not do justice to the amount of potential that this guy possesses.
He made his debut for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yorkshire-c867 in 1997 and was awarded the winner of the NBC Denis Compton Award for two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000. He finished 2000 as the leading wicket taker, conceding only 12.5 runs for each of his 24 wickets. His performance
also earned him the nomination for the Cricketer of the Year award by the Cricket Writers’ club.
He then went on to play for England A in the winter of 2000 where he took 16 wickets with a bowling average of 16.81. Following his performance for England A, he was selected for the national side in 2001, replacing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Matthew-Hoggard-c1926. He failed to take a wicket
against the side, and played two more ODI’s against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 before he was dropped from the side for 6 long years.
During that time, Sidebottom consolidated on his domestic career, and left Yorkshire for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nottinghamshire-c826 at the end of 2003 season, bagging 163 wickets for the county side, with an average of 25.12. During his stint for Nottinghamshire, he took 50 wickets
in the 2005 and 2006 season; using his talent for the county and helping them win the County Championship title in 2005 - a title he helped Yorkshire win in 2001.
The ‘sexual chocolate’ of England, as he was nicknamed by some of his team mates, was one of the best bowlers that the country has produced. However, he did not have time to prove his credentials and now at 32 years of age, Sidebottom had no illusions of
expecting a renewal of his central contract despite being a key figure in ODI’s and T20’s for England. He took 10 wickets in the World T20 at 16 runs apiece and finished as the teams joint second highest wicket taker.
With the clock against him, the 32-year-old has now felt that “It is time to hand over the ball to those a little younger.” It was only 2 years ago that Sidebottom was named as England’s player of the year, after carrying the burden of England’s bowling
attack almost single-handedly through 2007 and early 2008. However, Ryan understood that at this age, with the advent of younger players, he did not have much of a career left with the national side.
His retirement comes before the announcement of the England squad for the upcoming Ashes series against Australia. With Sidebottom now retired, England will have to carefully choose the bowling squad that they decide to play against the Australians. Anderson,
Finn and Stuart Broad are most likely to be a part of the side. However, England will in most probability take 5 fast bowlers to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, and the other two bowlers are yet to be decided.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489, the talented young bowler, might be picked as the fourth bowler, and the slot for the fifth remains open to speculation. Tim Bresnan might be an option for the Englishmen however he seems to lack the kind of expertise that could tickle the
better test batsmen. Chris Tremlett, a man who has played for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 and taken 48 wickets, might be picked for the English side.
Tremlett has previously played for England in Tests in 2007 alongside Ryan Sidebottom; however he has not played for the side since an ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sajid-Mahmood-c88005 and it remains
on the discretion of the ECB selectors and who they choose for the clash of the titans in Australia.
Ryan Sidebottom however seems to be content with his decision, saying he had achieved his dream by playing for the England side and garnering a number of achievements which include an impressive hat-trick to his name thrice and taking a 5 wicket haul against
New Zealand as well.
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