The 37-year-old suffered the injury during Somerset's Royal London Cup defeat by Durham last week, ruling him out of the remainder of the 50-over competition
A hamstring problem has forced James Hildreth to bring forward his planned retirement, the Somerset legend ending his professional career with immediate effect.
The 37-year-old suffered the injury during Somerset's Royal London Cup defeat by Durham last week, ruling him out of the remainder of the 50-over competition.
As a result, Hildreth – out of contract at the end of the campaign – has opted to call time on his glittering county career, having last week announced that he would step away at the end of the season.
He spent his entire professional career at Somerset, playing more than 700 matches and scoring in excess of 27,000 runs across formats.
Hildreth departs as the club's highest T20 run-scorer and third in the list for first-class runs, behind Harold Gimblett and Marcus Trescothick.
Of his 46 tons across the three forms of the game, Hildreth's best came against Warwickshire in 2009 thanks to an unbeaten 303. He helped the club lift the T20 Blast in 2005 and added the One-Day Cup in 2019.
Hildreth won the Royal London Cup in 2019 (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
However, Hildreth was unable to inspire a first LV= Insurance County Championship title win – despite his best efforts – or earn England recognition in spite of years of consistency at the top of the red-ball game.
In following Trescothick and Peter Trego, he becomes the latest doyen of Taunton to call time on their career in recent years.
"It feels like the right time to start a new chapter in my life and I'm excited about what the future holds," he said in his initial parting statement.
"I left school at 18 and have spent the last 20 years with the club. It's been my life and I’ve loved every minute of it.
"The club and cricket as a whole has given myself and my family so much over the last 20 years, and I've got nothing but fondness and love for the club and that will continue for the rest of my life."
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