Darren Bicknell to retire at end of season

Darren Bicknell, the Nottinghamshire batsman, has announced that he will retire from first-class cricket at the end of the county season. Bicknell, 39, contemplated retirement a year ago but was persuaded to continue and signed a new deal following Notts' first Championship title in 18 years.

"It's the right time for me to go. I've been playing cricket for 20 years and loved every minute of it," he said. "But there comes a time for everyone to call it a day and this will give Notts a chance to move on and rebuild for the future. This has been on my mind for a year or two and it's an emotional day for me. I am keen to play the rest of the season and want to finish the summer strongly."

Bicknell represented his home county Surrey from 1987 to 1999 before he switched to Trent Bridge, where he scored 1,131 runs at an average of 49.17 in the successful 2005 campaign. He passed 1000 runs in a season on nine occasions, complete with 47 first-class hundreds. With nearly 20,000 first-class runs under his belt, Bicknell was part of England A tours to Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies.

Mick Newell, Notts' director of cricket, was all praise for Bicknell."Darren has been brilliant for us and consistently churned out the runs from the moment he arrived from Surrey," he said. "He is very serious about his cricket and always gives 100 per cent for the team. He's well liked and respected in the dressing room and he will be missed by everyone."

Bicknell has been included in the Notts squad for the Championship game which begins today in Durham.