Matthew Hoggards Retires

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Matthew Hoggard extended his career with Leicestershire © PA Photos Enlarge


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[url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/14236.html"]Matthew Hoggard[/url], the swing bowler who helped England regain the Ashes in 2005, has announced his retirement after a 17-year career at the age of 36.
He posted on Twitter that it was "time to hang up the boots" five years since the last of his 67 Test matches, during which he took 248 wickets at 30.50 with his prodigious swinging deliveries, becoming the eighth-highest wicket-taker in Tests for England. He also played 26 ODIs and served his home county Yorkshire and latterly Leicestershire with distinction.
Hoggard hoped to play one final season for Leicestershire having signed a contract extension last year but after a bit-part summer, and relinquishing the four-day captaincy, he has decided his playing days are over.
Big, bustling, and with the sort of energy coaches kill for, Hoggard flourished under Duncan Fletcher's regime as England coach, finding a regular place in the side despite Fletcher's love of out-and-out pace bowling.
In 2004, he began the year with a hat-trick in Barbados before helping England to an unbeaten summer against West Indies and South Africa. That winter he single-handedly bowled England to a series-clinching win in Johannesburg, taking 12 wickets in the match.
Then came the legendary Ashes series of 2005. Hoggard took 16 wickets and, perhaps most memorably, struck Brett Lee for four through extra-cover to help England edge home in a nerve-jangling run-chase at Trent Bridge

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from now onwards he will be [img]http://www.gifsoup.com/view/830555/ntr-comedy-o.gif[/img]