Sidebottom out of ODI series

Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out of the ODI series

England remain confident Ryan Sidebottom can recover from his latest injury setback and continue his international career after being ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series with India.

The 30-year-old left-arm seamer has suffered a tear to his right side, which will sideline him for the remaining four games in the seven-match series and puts his participation in the two Tests which follow under threat.

It is a major setback for the Nottinghamshire bowler, who has claimed 76 wickets in 17 Tests since reclaiming his place in England's line-up at the start of the 2007 summer but has since been hit with a succession of injuries.

His latest injury was sustained while bowling in the nets during the second one-day international in Indore and after an initial scan proved inconclusive, he was sent for further tests today which provided the diagnosis.

Sidebottom will remain with the England Performance Programme squad, who arrived in Bangalore today, and receive intensive rehabilitation before a decision is made on his participation with the Test squad.

But despite a growing injury record, which has prompted some to suggest his body can no longer withstand the rigours of international cricket, England remain confident he can return to their ranks and continue his international career.

"We know fast bowlers can pick up niggles," said coach Peter Moores. "We've had Andrew Flintoff missing for 18 months and he's come back, so we know it happens.

"We also know that people who play international cricket, they have a never-ending schedule because it's a 12-month cycle and they have to get used to that.

"Ryan's given everything for 12-18 months, picked up those niggles and hopefully we can get him fit, strong and his body in the right shape to then carry on playing without injury for a decent period of time."

Sidebottom, who won the England player-of-the-year award in 2007, has not featured at international level since playing in the third Test against South Africa at Edgbaston in August.

He has bowled just two competitive overs since then, during England's trip to Antigua for the Stanford Series, with Achilles and side injuries preventing him from playing a single match since the arrival in India nearly three weeks ago.

But Moores remains optimistic he can return as good as ever once he has recovered from the latest injury.

Sidebottom suffered his latest injury setback whilst bowling in the nets in Indore last week

"If anything we'll get more (from him) because he's training very hard to be able to bowl," explained Moores.

"We know Ryan's got great control, swings it both ways and as an experienced bowler he has got the skills that you need.

"We also know he operates at his best when he's above 82-83mph and I think he'll be able to do that without a problem.

"He needs to get some overs under his belt because I think that's what happened in Antigua, he came back from injury and the intensity of bowling again caused another one."

Moores stressed: "At the moment Ryan just wants to make sure people don't think he's taking the mickey - he's just desperate to play.

"He knows he's had a very good calendar year, got himself into the top 10 in the rankings and he's desperate to get out there.

"He couldn't be working any harder but at the moment he's just going to have to wait and be patient and when we do get him back, hopefully he can regain the same sort of form he had before."

England have delayed a decision on whether to call up a replacement for Sidebottom to the one-day squad for 48 hours, but have options in the performance squad in Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood.

Their options for tomorrow's day-night fourth match against India at the Chinaswarmy Stadium have also been reduced by Sidebottom's failure to recover, and they may keep an unchanged line-up despite suffering three successive defeats.

Matt Prior remains under pressure after failing to get a big score during the series, as does Paul Collingwood, who has not scored a half-century in his last seven one-day international innings.

"He's obviously due a score and at the moment he'll be desperate to get it, but form is a temporary thing," claimed Moores.

"Yuvraj (Singh) came into this series in poor form and suddenly he's now in a fantastic run of form, so you know with good players they will come good.

"He'll be desperate to go out there and make a contribution. He's got a chance now batting at number four.

"We moved him to number six because he's also a very good finisher of a game and a very cool head under pressure, but we decided to give him more responsibility up the order because we think we need his skills."