Matthew Hoggard this week joined a long list of Yorkshire and England internationals, unceremoniously dumped by the county.

Less than a month after his hat trick at The Hove played a major part in our Division 1 survival, our summer’s leading wicket taker is dumped.

The County made noises about the cost and benefits of re-engaging Hoggard and even tried to shift focus onto Hoggard’s own unilateral declaration of his departure. It had struck me a week earlier when Yorkshire announced contract extensions for 5 players that Hoggard’s name was conspicuous by its absence and that something might be afoot.

The County made noises about the cost of employing a recently centrally contracted international and Hoggard’s omission from our one day side. He may not have been the quickest ever fast bowler, but his experience and guile meant that he was often chosen over faster bowlers to open for England. He could be relied upon to keep one end tight and give no respite to the batsmen whilst the likes of Flintoff and Harmison attacked from the other end.

True, a six figure salary is a lot, but we’re leading county and should have resources to match. You don’t see top soccer teams selling their top scoring striker just to reduce the wage bill. Even City don’t do that.

Nor did I see Somerset releasing Caddick or Trescothwick when they lost their England contracts. Both have played on (no pun intended) and played leading roles for Somerset since their international careers ended.

Other big counties, such as Surrey, Lancashire and Leicestershire seem keen to snap up any experienced county pro that’s open to offers.

Recent ECB incentives have tipped the balance in favour of top loading counties with younger players and that may have swayed Yorkshire’s thinking. But, to badly paraphrase someone else, you don’t win nothing without taking 20 wickets and you certainly don’t win The County Championship with kids.

Nor do I understand Yorkshire’s refusal to play him more often in one day games. If he’ good enough to bowl in pressure cooker 5 day test matches against Australia, then surely he’s got the ability, experience and guile to bowl 10 overs a day in domestic one day cricket.

Or maybe they were just miffed by Hoggard’s appearance. A shaggy haired mop top with wrap around shades isn’t an image you’ll find facing you in Yorkshire’s vast sepia tinted hall of fame.

Certainly, the acrimony surrounding his departure was unwelcome. His comments regarding his discussions over assuming the captaincy won’t have gone done too well with the current incumbent.

For Yorkshire, another winter of discontent? Will our nee overseas replacement, Aussie Ryan Harris be an adequate replacement for the 2 outgoing fast bowlers?

For Hoggard, Leicestershire have already been mentioned, but let’s just hope he doesn’t end up with Lancashite (and that’s an accidental typo that reads much better without a spell check applied).

He’s enjoyed a fine career with Yorkshire and I’m sure he’ll enjoy another outstanding career with whichever of the many interested counties he joins.