Ryan Sidebottom

Test cricket is strewn with cricketers who have retired as one-cap wonders, but only the Sidebottoms have made a family pastime of it. First there was Arnie, full of red-faced anguish, against Australia in the 1980s and then came Ryan, the son with a hairstyle sprawling enough to house a sparrow box, who briefly stirred public consciousness when he failed to take a wicket against Pakistan in 2001.

Then: barely a word. Arnie, who was the wrong side of 30 when he broke down mid-match on a Trent Bridge featherbed with a toe injury, was not exactly swamped by encouraging chats from selectors after that, even though he bowled his most clinical, intelligent spells late in his career. No one really trusted him to last five days.

And Ryan, no matter how much he spoke yesterday of hoping endlessly for "the nod" did not exactly stir Duncan Fletcher from his armchair to study him behind the arm at first Yorkshire and then, when he left his native county four years ago, at Nottinghamshire. The conclusion after his Pakistan foray was that he did not swing it and a left-arm fast-medium bowler without inswing has little to commend him at Test level.

But Peter Moores, Fletcher's replacement as coach, has been persuaded to have another look. If Ryan wins a second cap against the West Indies in Leeds on Friday, the Sidebottoms could be in for a spot of social climbing. With Matthew Hoggard not expected to be fit, it is Sidebottom or Jimmy Anderson for the last bowling place - a local lad with one of the meanest economy rates in county cricket, back on his own midden, or a trendy Lancastrian of no great reliability. Any proud Yorkshireman would not deign to discuss it.

Ryan left Yorkshire after a stand-off with Geoff Cope, a former England off-spinner and at the time the county's director of cricket, who was ill pleased by his habit of getting injured whenever he went to Scarborough, first a trip on a boundary rope, then a spot of flu. He was dropped in late season as a consequence.

"There were seven international bowlers at the time," Ryan recalled yesterday, "and I needed regular cricket to better myself. It's been good to be congratulated by some old faces, but I had to leave to look after No1. I'm a better bowler now." He referred to himself several times as a "swing bowler" and suggested: "If Headingley swings it'll be great." The West Indies batsmen will have to decide whether or not it is a con trick.

If Ryan does play, don't rely on Arnie to watch. He was always a terrible watcher, and when Ryan is playing he is worse. "He'll probably go down the bookies," Ryan said. It would be good to hear Arnie go into Ladbrokes and say: "A fiver on my lad to be top wicket-taker," because he has had a tough time.

He also fell out with Yorkshire, deemed surplus to requirements on the coaching staff. He now manages the Yorkshire League side, Rotherham Town, and does some freelance coaching. He deserves to be in demand because in his 30s, from limited beginnings, he made himself into a combative cricketer with bat and ball.

The build up to Arnie's sole Test, in 1985, had been chaotic. He was journeying from Gloucester to Maidstone when he got the call, his kit was in the back of David Bairstow's car and Bairstow was uncontactable, on a lengthy social engagement. Test call-ups do not come to everyone. He was not unfit, but it is fare to say he had felt better. Australia made 539, Arnie lasted 18 overs and the knives came out.

All that will be forgotten if Ryan does the business. "We still have a laugh about the one-cap thing," he said. "It's been part of the family. But he's always said that I might outdo him."