Rankin stays at Warwicks on three-year deal

By Paul Bolton, County News Correspondent

Warwickshire have persuaded Ireland fast bowler Boyd Rankin to stay with them on a new three-year contract. The 28-year-old Ulsterman was due to be out of contract at the end of the year and he had attracted 28-day notices from Somerset and Yorkshire.

But Rankin has now committed himself to a new deal which will keep him at Edgbaston until the end of the 2015 season and he is also expected to stop playing for Ireland at the end of the year to prolong his county career.

Rankin, who recently returned to fitness after he missed the first three months of the season with a foot injury, has already played for England Lions and has stated his ambitions to play Test cricket for England in the future.

Meanwhile Warwickshire all-rounder Rikki Clarke will not be able to bowl for around two weeks after a grade two tear of an abdominal muscle was revealed by a scan. Clarke is likely to continue playing County Championship cricket as a specialist batsman while his abdominal muscle heals.

But all-rounder Steffan Piolet, who is considered a one-day specialist, faces a period on the sidelines after he suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury bowling in the Clydesdale Bank 40 win over Yorkshire at Edgbaston.



Date: 08/08/2012 11:06:07 by Paul Bolton
In: Warwickshire | Today |