Somerset legend James Hildreth announces retirement from cricket

Veteran English batter and Somerset legend James Hildreth has called time on his playing career as he is set to retire after his contract expires at the end of the 2022 season. The 37-year-old has represented Somerset throughout his entire professional career since making his debut in 2003.

Hildreth joined Somerset as a teenager, and continued plying his trade for the club for 20 years, featuring in over 700 matches across formats, scoring over 27000 runs. The leading T20 run-getter for the side, Hildreth helped the team to domestic success in 2005, winning the T20 Blast. He was pivotal in Somerset’s One-Day Cup triumph in 2019. He retires from the game as the third-highest run-getter for the side and will probably regret not getting his hands on a County Championship title during his career.

“It feels like the right time to start a new chapter in my life, and I’m excited about what the future holds. I left school at 18 and have spent the last 20 years with the club. It’s been my life, and I’ve loved every minute of it. The club and cricket as a whole have given me and my family so much over the last 20 years, and I’ve got nothing but fondness and love for the club, and that will continue for the rest of my life,” he said in his parting statement.

Been a pleasure to work closely with him: Somerset head coach Jason Kerr

Despite his best efforts, Hildreth never got the opportunity to represent the national side, and his only contribution to the English team came in the 2005 Ashes when he took the catch to dismiss Ricky Ponting as a substitute fielder. Somerset head coach Jason Kerr hailed the batter for his incredible consistency over the years and recalled some of his best knocks for the team, including a ton in the county championship while playing with a broken foot.

“James has had an outstanding career, and I’m sure that we’ll see a deserving outpouring of best wishes and superlatives for him over the next few weeks. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to see him play some outstanding innings over the years, and two that spring to mind are his hundred not out in a T20 against Glamorgan when were dead and buried and a remarkable hundred that he got with a broken foot in the Championship,” Kerr said in a statement.