Ryan Sidebottom, the teenage reject who became an England hero

13 April 2012

If Ryan Sidebottom was a vindictive man, this would be the time for naming and shaming and the settling of scores.

Fortunately, for the Yorkshire Under-15 coach who told the adolescent left-arm swing bowler that he would never make it as a cricketer, he is not.

Passing the test: Sidebottom triumphantly takes a West Indies wicket

Since returning to Test cricket after a six-year absence a little less than 12 months ago, Sidebottom, now 30, has taken 53 wickets in 12 matches with beautifully controlled late swing — earning a place among Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year and a glowing endorsement from New Zealand and Nottinghamshire legend Sir Richard Hadlee that probably means just as much.

But while his focus is set on the first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord's starting on Thursday, that moment of rejection 16 years ago still burns in Sidebottom.

He was 14 and making his way with Holmfirth CC near his home town of Huddersfield and where his father — former Yorkshire stalwart, England one-cap seamer and Manchester United full-back Arnie — was the club professional. Young Ryan had been thrilled to get the chance to impress at the county's Under-15 trials.

He thought he had bowled well enough, taking 2-32. But the coach thought otherwise, taking the trouble to offer the young hopeful the following well-chosen words of encouragement in front of his team-mates: 'Find something else to do, lad. You'll never be good enough at cricket.'

Ryan's mother Gillian thought something was up as he was unusually quiet in the car on the way home. When she stopped to drop off one of the other Huddersfield-based boys, she found out why — between the sobs and gulps and tears.

'I cried my eyes out,' admitted Sidebottom. 'I was just a schoolboy like any other, wanting to do well for my mum and dad and my grandad, who had been driving me all over the place to play.

'It was hard enough to be told I had no chance of making it. But to do it in front of all the other lads, that was unnecessary.'

Are we naming the coach in question? 'No. He knows who he is,' is all Sidebottom will say.

In fact, Sidebottom has had enough experience of cricketing rejection to fill the pages of a self-help manual. After making his England Test debut against Pakistan at Lord's in May 2001, when he struggled with nerves and finished wicketless as Darren Gough, Andy Caddick and Dominic Cork set up victory by an innings.

Sidebottom was left to return to county cricket with Yorkshire without so much as a 'keep at it' from England's management at the time.

Next, he moved to Trent Bridge in 2004 and the following year took 48 wickets at 22.83 to help Stephen Fleming's Nottinghamshire win the County Championship for the first time in 18 years. While he knew the wild celebrations of Ashes victory meant no Test places were available, he dared to hope his performances might win him a place in the England Academy, or at the very least a word of hope from the powers-that-were. Nothing.

Then, as day after day in the international wilderness dawned, so did the realisation that when England coach Duncan Fletcher spoke of Test quicks needing to be able to bowl near to 90mph, that did not include him.

All of which may explain a few things about Sidebottom now. In particular, his vein-bulging, hair-flying, gut-wrenching determination to make the most of every chance left to him since he was called up by England for the injured Matthew Hoggard for the second Test against West Indies last May.

His recall, as a 'horse for course' selection at his former home ground Headingley, followed the change in attitude that came with Fletcher's replacement by new coach Peter Moores. It may also explain why, although happily settled off the field and recently married to Katie, his partner of eight years, Sidebottom looks as though his fiery head is about to burst into flames every time he takes a wicket.

And why the soft-spoken manner that befits someone with the nickname Sexual Chocolate — given to him by Gough after an appalling club singer portrayed by Eddie Murphy in his film Coming To America — gives way to a raging ranter whenever he bowls a bad ball or, more controversially, when he is let down by he efforts of a ham-fisted colleague in the field.

And why, when he took his hattrick in the first Test against New Zealand in Napier, the only people in the ground more pleased than him were Arnie and Gillian.

'I suppose you could say I might not be here now if it hadn't been for the support of my dad,' said Sidebottom. 'Right from that day with the Yorkshire Under-15s, whenever I got another knockback, he just said: "Forget about what other people say, keep doing your thing and keep enjoying it. Prove people wrong".

'This past year has been a bit surreal. I never did give up hope and obviously there was talk of how things might be different under the new regime. But when Mike Newell called me into his office at Trent Bridge this time last year, my first thought was that I might have done something wrong in a nightclub.

'So when I picked the phone and David Graveney was on the other end, telling me I had been selected for the next Test, I was a bit taken aback, to say the least.

'But I'm sure my experience of having to wait so long for a second chance means I'm not taking anything for granted.

'I did think I might have a squeak in 2005, maybe an opportunity to get back in the fold and show what I could do because the move from Yorkshire to Notts had done me good. I had been benefiting from opening in both forms of the game, learning all the time and swinging the ball regularly.

'Duncan Fletcher is entitled to his opinion, but I don't think I'm that much of a better bowler now than then and I'm definitely not bowling at 90mph, so maybe I could have succeeded given the chance earlier.

'As for my aggression on the field, I'm sure the experience of playing at this level is more intense for me because of the six years I had to wait.

'I have been asked by Peter Moores to try to cool it on the pitch and while I totally understand the reasons, I don't want to change the way I am. I believe I'm a better bowler when I'm angry or fired up.

'I hate bowling badly, so a lot of what you see is me taking it out on myself.

'As for my reaction to catches going down, if a batter is upset, he can get back to the dressing room and smash things around and no one outside will be any the wiser, but the second thing the cameras pick up when a ball goes to ground is the look on the bowler's face and I'm not very good at hiding my feelings.

'Generally, as a team we are all fine; someone will take the ****, someone will do my accent or Kevin Pietersen will just tell me to shut up and get on with it. But the lads realise how desperate I am to do well and take wickets because for me, at 30, this is not going to last for ever.

'Starting a career at my age, just pulling on an England tracksuit and running round the ground is special. I just want to make the most of it.'

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