England bowler Ryan Sidebottom has insisted that he will be fit for the first Test against New Zealand in Wednesday.
England bowler cleared to tackle New Zealand
England bowler Ryan Sidebottom has insisted that he will be fit for the first Test against New Zealand in Wednesday.
Sidebottom, who has been in fine form since earning a surprise recall to the Test side, had looked set to sit out the series opener at Seddon Park with a side strain.
However the Nottinghamshire left-arm has declared himself fit after coming through training unscathed.
"I'm fighting fit and available for selection," claimed Sidebottom.
"It's a bit of relief because it's a worry when you get injured. You don't want to miss Test matches and you don't want to miss tours.
"I'm not getting on the plane home so I'm happy with that and I'm raring to go now.
"You don't want to make it worse and you need time for these things to recover, but I've had two or three days rest and recovery and preparation."
Should Sidebottom, as expected, be selected, then it would pit the 30-year-old against his former county colleague Stephen Fleming.
Honour
Fleming, who will retire from international cricket at the end of the series, and Sidebottom were part of the Outlaws side that won the championship in 2005 - and the former New Zealand captain has previously praised the bowler.
"He's had some lovely words to say about me," added Sidebottom.
"He's a lovely bloke and for someone like him to say those things about me is quite an honour, but I'm looking forward to bowling at him and hopefully I can knock him over.
"He probably didn't help me that much actually during the games but afterwards he would tell me a few things about my game and what I needed to improve on and what it's like playing in Test matches.
"He's also a very positive captain and he's made me into a much more positive character when I'm bowling, and encourages me to keep plugging away and not give up.
"He used to keep the slips in for most of the time so you had to bowl well.
"He generally had two or three slips in so you had to make sure you were on the money more often than not and that was really good for my game - he always set attacking fields and that definitely helped my bowling."
