Ryan Sidebottom

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Ryan Sidebottom bigraphy, stories - English cricketer

Ryan Sidebottom : biography

15 January 1978 –

Ryan Jay Sidebottom (born 15 January 1978) is an English cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Yorkshire. He is a primarily a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Sidebottom played his first Test match in 2001 against Pakistan, but failed to take a wicket and was dropped for six years. In 2007 he was brought back into the side following an injury to Matthew Hoggard and took four wickets in his first innings. He went on to become a prolific bowler for England over the next two years, though injuries saw him lose his place in the Test side in 2009. He retired from international duty on 20 September 2010, after playing 22 Tests for England and winning the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

He took the 37th Test cricket hat-trick in his 11th match for England against New Zealand, becoming the 11th English player to do so, on 8 March 2008, and on 23 March he took his third five-wicket haul in the same series, breaking the previous record for an Englishman in New Zealand. He is a former pupil of King James’s Grammar School, Almondbury, Huddersfield. He is married to Kate and they have two children, a daughter, Indiana Nell, and a son, Darley Jack. His father, Arnie Sidebottom, was also a cricketer, and played one Test match for England in 1985 against Australia, as well as playing professional footbal.

Career

Sidebottom started playing as a young boy for Kirkburton Cricket Club. He made his debut for his native Yorkshire in 1997. The winner of the NBC Denis Compton Award two years running, (in 1999 and 2000), he finished as the leading domestic English-bowler at the end of 2000, conceding only 12.5 runs for each of his 24 wickets, and capping this with a nomination for Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers’ Club. Injury problems took away much of his 2000 season, but, during the winter, Sidebottom toured the West Indies with England A, taking 16 wickets at a bowling average of 16.81. He made his international debut the following summer against Pakistan in place of Matthew Hoggard. He played in two ODIs in October 2001 against Zimbabwe.

Sidebottom left Yorkshire to join Nottinghamshire at the end of the 2003 season, having taken 163 wickets for Yorkshire at an average of 25.12. At Nottinghamshire, he took 50 wickets in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons, helping them to the County Championship title in 2005; he had also won the title with Yorkshire in 2001.

He sports a flamboyant hairstyle which has led to the dressing room nickname of "Sexual Chocolate". Sidebottom’s long hair indirectly led to a second nickname, "Stringfellow", after a hapless Henry Blofeld repeatedly confused him with long-haired nightclub impresario Peter Stringfellow during the first Test match against New Zealand in 2008.

International Test career

Debut-Pakistan 2001

Sidebottom made his international Test debut in May 2001, as England took on Pakistan. Batting first, England made 391 and in reply, Pakistan made 203 and 179, with the away side sinking to an innings and 9 run defeat. Sidebottom contributed four with the bat and finished with figures of 0–38 and 0–26.

West Indies 2007

Following this match, Sidebottom had to wait another six years before being recalled to play in the England side to face the West Indies in the second Test in May 2007, following the injury to Matthew Hoggard in the opening match. His first Test victim was Chris Gayle, trapped leg before wicket, and Daren Ganga, Dwayne Bravo and Corey Collymore soon followed, as he finished with figures of 4–42. The West Indies followed on, and Sidebottom again impressed, taking the wickets of four of the top order batsmen, ending with 4–44. The hosts eventually won by a record innings and 283 runs.

In the third Test, Sidebottom contributed a useful 23 over the two innings and finished with match figures of 3–101 as England won by 60 runs. In the final match of the series, he took his first international five wicket haul during the West Indies’ first innings, finishing with 5–88, hit an unbeaten 26 in England’s reply, and then bowled fifteen overs for 40 runs, with no reward, as the hosts won by 7 wickets and wrapped up a 3–0 series victory.