Former England International seam bowler Matthew Hoggard says he is shocked and bitterly disappointed at County Club Yorkshire’s decision not to renew his contract, despite serving fifteen years with the club.
One of the 2005 Ashes heroes when his sixteen wicket haul in the series helped England to the famous win, Hoggard has already suffered the disappointment of being discarded by the England selectors since 2008.
Hoggard claims that Yorkshire are letting him go for financial reasons and says that he was sacked over a cup of coffee and was upset at not getting the chance of a proper farewell.
“One thing that really annoyed me was that I only got to say goodbye through the press. We had started talks about being captain. It went from being interested in being captain to ‘I’m sorry we’re not renewing your contract’.”
Yorkshire Cricket Club have hit back at Hoggard’s claims, saying that the captaincy was something that the player had ‘personally tabled with Colin Graves the chairman of Yorkshire CC.’
“Colin informed Matthew that he would feed his request into the next board meeting, but at no stage was Matthew ever offered the position of Yorkshire captain.”
A statement from Yorkshire CC said;
“An extremely competitive two-year contract, with the option of a third year based on performance, was offered to Matthew at the beginning of the season; a deal that would have retained his position as one of the highest earners at the county. Matthew turned that contract offer down as he wanted a higher salary and a longer contract.
The club and player agreed that they would review the situation after the season had ended. Over the course of the summer the club has reviewed its playing staff for 2010 and made plans to secure a number of key players.
At the meeting last Thursday, Matthew was informed that the board had made the decision not to offer him a new contract. This decision had been made in light of a number of factors – the current economic climate, the player’s contractual requirements and a detailed analysis of the make-up of the professional squad for the 2010 season.”
Hoggard says he is now looking for another county, “I am still fit, I didn’t miss any games last year through injury. I’m the leading wicket-taker, I’ve got a lot to offer and my experience is second to none in the County Championship.”
Any takers?
1 comment so far
1 Wooh Pang // Oct 13, 2009 at 6:58 pm
The groups for the 2011 World Cup have been decided. While the format has not been formally disclosed by the ICC, they have indicated at http://www.cricinfo.ws that it will be a quarter-final format i.e. top 4 in each group play in the QFs. The tournament is going to be shortened to 49 matches (from 51) and to around 5 weeks (from 6 weeks).