No Headingley hurrah for Yorkshire's Ryan Sidebottom as injury bites

The former England pace bowler, who retires this month at the age of 39, will miss the match against Warwickshire that starts tomorrow due to a strained quad muscle.

Sidebottom is rated 50-50 for the last game of the season against Essex at Chelmsford, which starts next Monday.

The left-armer suffered the injury when diving to stop the ball on the boundary in last week’s match against Surrey at the Oval.

Yorkshire had hoped that the injury was not too serious and that Sidebottom would be fit to play in front of his home crowd for one last time as the club seek a victory that would significantly ease their relegation fears.

But a planned fitness test yesterday did not go ahead, leaving both player and club unsure as to whether he has already played his final game

Yorkshire, who go into tomorrow’s match two places and one point above the relegation zone, will hand a debut to West Indian opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, who replaces the Australian batsman Shaun Marsh.

Marsh has now returned home for the Australian domestic season after signing off with a hundred at the Oval.

Yorkshire (from): Ballance (captain), Brathwaite, Bresnan, Brooks, Carver, Coad, Fisher, Hodd, Kohler-Cadmore, Leaning, Lees, Lyth, Patterson, Rafiq.