Ex-ODI star Ian Blackwell has been forced to retire aged 34 due to injury.
A third operation has failed to fix the problems to Ian Blackwell’s shoulder and the Durham man has been forced to hang up his gloves.
After revealing he had arthritis in his shoulder in February, Blackwell underwent a third operation on the same spot but it didn’t stop the problem.
The 34-year-old made 34 one day appearances for England after making his debut against Zimbabwe in 2002. He also played one Test match against India in 2006 but failed to really impress.
As a one day player however Blackwell had much more success, scoring over 400 runs and taking 24 wickets.
The all-rounder started his county career at Derbyshire before moving to Somerset in 2000. It was during his eight years at Taunton that Blackwell really started to shine, where his powerful batting and spin-bowling caught the eye of the national selectors.
In 2009 county champions Durham came calling for Blackwell and he contributed 801 runs and 43 wickets in his first season – helping his side to retain their title.
Although still contracted to Durham for the 2012 season, the England international spent some of last season at Warwickshire where he won another county championship medal.
Injuries blighted much of Blackwell’s time in the north-east, but his last professional game was an appearance at Lord’s in the CB40 final with Warwickshire, at the end of last summer.
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