Caddick ends England one-day career

Andrew Caddick yesterday followed his the lead of his captain, Nasser Hussain, in the aftermath of England's early World Cup exit by standing down from the international one-day game.

A veteran of 54 one-day caps and two World Cups, Caddick hopes his decision will give younger pace bowlers the opportunity to establish themselves in time for England's next campaign in the Caribbean in 2007. Like Hussain he will continue to be available for Test duty with England this summer, when Zimbabwe and South Africa are due to tour.

The news does not come entirely as a surprise, given England's need to rebuild the one-day side and that Caddick, now aged 34, has no chance of being around for the next World Cup in four years' time.

"My age is against me. There is no point in continuing," Caddick admitted. "It is time for the youngsters to get ready for the next World Cup. In three or four years' time I hope those youngsters will then have gained the experience.

"It's always difficult to make a decision like this, especially when you've had a long career. I'm still involved in the Test side, but as far as one-day cricket is concerned it's time to call it a day."

Caddick's retirement from one-dayers follows that of Hussain, who took his decision immediately after England's elimination in the World Cup pool stages in South Africa at the start of this month.

Caddick's elimination leaves England's pace-bowling department in a transitional phase, with Darren Gough still hoping to come back from long-term injury and the youngster James Anderson trying to build on a promising start. With the captaincy to be decided too, Caddick none the less remains confident he and Hussain are leaving England in good shape.

"There are players in the form of Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick – and there's even talk of Adam Hollioake coming in," he said. "All three are capable of taking on the captaincy. I'm glad Nasser hasn't thrown away the Test captaincy, because I think he's one of the best to take on the job for England."

Caddick will also now be free to devote more time to the county scene with Somerset, and his coach there, Andy Shine, was delighted that they would be seeing more of the New Zealand-born bowler.

"It is difficult to say for sure it is definitely the right decision. But he has made it in conjunction with [the England coach] Duncan Fletcher," Shine said. "He obviously feels he has done the right thing, and the important thing is that he and Duncan have made the decision and they are both happy with it."