Over the next two weeks Ryan Sidebottom will be helping to launch a new England kit as well as attending a Friends Provident dinner and a function for the Urban Cricket initiative. Like umpires, marketing men have a strong feel for who is “in” and who is “out” and Sidebottom, to his bemusement, is clearly “in”.

It has taken less than a year and only 12 matches for the left-arm opening bowler to pass 50 Test wickets, supplant Matthew Hoggard and Stephen Harmison as the kingpin of the England bowling attack and burst into the top ten of the ICC world rankings. However, the intensity of life on the international circuit took its toll.

“I need to be a little bit stronger,” he said. “Playing for England is fantastic, but the schedules are hectic and, to be frank, I was knackered by the end of the New Zealand tour [which took place in February and March]. My body was sore and I was lacking in the second innings of the final Test. It was tough going with travel, nets, games and nothing in between.”

Rest has been accepted gratefully since he returned with a record 24 wickets from three Tests, including a hat-trick in the first match in Hamilton. That was the highlight of his winter. “For all the aches, I have thoroughly enjoyed it,” Sidebottom said.

Listening to a quiet, slightly squeaky voice talk calmly about staying level-headed contrasts with his familiar on-field performances, during which hair waves, fists pump, screams rail and eyes bulge. Whatever effect it has on the opposition, he can frighten the daylights out of his own teammates.

One critic thought that Sidebottom’s response to dropped catches contributed towards Matt Prior losing his place as wicketkeeper after the series against Sri Lanka at the end of last year because it emphasised the mistakes and added pressure. “Maybe that is a little bit harsh,” Sidebottom said. “But fair enough, people are allowed to have their opinions.”

It did reach a point in New Zealand, after a horrible one-day defeat in Hamilton, where the management warned Sidebottom to lay off his colleagues. “They had a few words,” he said. “I have been trying to control my temper and nobody means to drop a catch, but I want to take wickets and it can be difficult to hold back.

“I am a bit grumpy, but is that a bad thing? It makes me bowl better. I know that having a go at teammates is wrong because nobody drops a catch deliberately, but I want to take wickets. And I get angry with myself when I make a mistake. I always apologise to the bowler because I know how it feels.”

His contributions were rewarded last week when he was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. In a moving presentation he received his leather-bound book from Sir Alec Bedser, who received a similar honour in 1947.

Sidebottom was touched by the occasion. Bedser is three months away from his 90th birthday and is becoming frail, but he retains a presence and Sidebottom was deferential in conversation. “He said, ‘Well done, keep going and get your hair cut,’ ” Sidebottom said. “He wasn’t the first, but it was quite amusing.”

By Sidebottom’s side was Kate, his wife of less than a week. The pair married three miles from Trent Bridge before a low-key honeymoon weekend in Edinburgh. He was unaware of Bedser’s oft-stated view that modern players have it easy. “Well, he can’t complain about me,” Sidebottom said. “I bowled 140 overs in those New Zealand Tests.”

His new season begins for Nottinghamshire next week against the less illustrious opposition of Oxford UCCE and Sidebottom is adamant that he needs to work on his bowling to reap further success. “There are adjustments I can make,” he said. “India last year was an eye-opener, the way they swung it away from around the wicket. That is something to practise.

“I can get the ball to swing in pretty regularly now, so if I can get the odd one to go away and across, that will make it harder for the batsmen. They have seen the way I bowl, they know me now, so I have to counteract that. I think that this year will be tough for me. People have said some nice things, but I still feel I have a bit to prove.”

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