RYAN Sidebottom continued his role as standard-bearer for the benefits of county cricket with another five-wicket haul to seal England's comfortable 126-run triumph over New Zealand in the second Test.
The 30-year-old Nottinghamshire left-arm seamer has been a regular member of England's Test side only for ten months, but in that short space of time he has already established himself as the senior member of the bowling attack.
He is the man cap
tain Michael Vaughan nearly always turns to when he needs a wicket, he is also thrown the ball when he needs control, and he is the man who takes the new ball when it is at its most potent. That was underlined on the final day at the Basin Reserve, with Sidebottom opening the bowling and claiming the two early wickets which effectively broke New Zealand's resistance late on Sunday night and ensured England will turn up in Napier for the final Test with the series still at stake.
Sidebottom finished with five for 105 to take his tally in the last two Tests to 16 wickets, while he has taken 45 wickets since being recalled to England's line-up by coach Peter Moores for the second Test against West Indies at Headingley last May.
His efforts ensured that New Zealand, chasing an unlikely victory target of 438, were dismissed for 311 despite a defiant 85 from hard-hitting wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, with Sidebottom claiming the key wickets of Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills early on.
It is testament to his enduring ability to trouble even high-class batsman having been discarded after only one wicket-less Test in 2001 by former coach Duncan Fletcher. "After the Test match I played in 2001, I went back to county cricket and worked hard at my action and what I could change," said Sidebottom. "I worked hard with my bowling coach Steve Oldham.
"I could swing the ball when I was younger, but I'd also have days when I just pushed it across and it always helps if you can swing the ball because batsmen don't know if it's going to carry on its course or swing."
Once again watched by his father Arnie, the former Yorkshire and England seamer, Sidebottom is likely to be a fixture for some time yet given the high regard he is held by current coach Moores and captain Vaughan.
"I guess he's getting all the rewards now for all the hard work he's put in over the years and hopefully that will continue for a long, long while and he can have a really good, sustained international career," said Vaughan.
The full article contains 448 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
