Cricket no longer the business for Loudon

Smuggled out under the all-consuming cover of England's rugby World Cup Final last month was a brief statement saying that, just turned 27, Loudon was giving it all up to pursue a business career.

Showing industry: Loudon is giving up cricket and hoping to making his mark in the world of business

Thus, barely a year after winning his lone England cap at Durham in the one-day series against Sri Lanka, the Warwickshire player announced he was taking his life in a completely different direction.

There will be no more pursuing the sporting dream, no hanging around for a benefit year, just an abrupt, clean break from what had been his chosen profession.

That is why, when his erstwhile England team-mates board the plane for Sri Lanka on Wednesday, and county colleagues also contemplate upcoming winters in sunnier climes, he will have his head buried in his books.

Loudon is studying for exams that he hopes will get him into an international business school, the first rung on his planned ascent of the corporate ladder.

Weekend warriors at cricket clubs throughout the country, those who would kill to be paid to play sport, may think he is mad.

'When I was talking it over with people in the summer 90 per cent were asking what on earth I was doing, but I thought long and hard about it,' he said reflectively yesterday.

'I was very focused on cricket but I have always had ambitions to do other things in life as well.

'Being a professional sportsman, probably like many apparently glamorous things in life, is not as sugar-coated as it might seem. It is challenging and hard work.'

Not that he has fallen out of love with the game or been crushed by the disappointment of a toplevel career that appeared to have stalled.

It is rather that Loudon, intelligent and thoughtful, has made an unromantic decision about what he wants to achieve.

'I will still play and being a professional was a fantastic experience,' he said. 'But my cricket was at a crossroads and I had to weigh up whether to continue or give myself the opportunities elsewhere that probably wouldn't be available if I left it until 30.

'I eventually want to work in industry for a multi-national company and manage people, and you need to give your career the chance to develop.

'Having spent so much time in an environment when you are always under pressure to perform should hopefully prove good experience.'

The son of an industrialist, Loudon was President of Pop at Eton — head boy to you and me — before making the professional game via the well-trodden route from Durham University.

Decent scores, plus the development of a nascent 'doosra' delivery, got him on to the post-Ashes triumph England tour of Pakistan, where he went unused.

An A Tour to the West Indies followed and then selection for the MCC team to play champions Notts in the 2006 curtain-raiser — a sure sign that selectors are interested — in which he got a century.

Then came the England pick which may make him a question for trivia buffs in years to come: who, in their solitary one-day international appearance, was run out for nought without facing a ball?

'It's not much of a memory for me because you want to do well and win, and neither happened,' he said. 'I probably wasn't ready for international cricket.'

After that his form dipped and never really recovered to its previous heights. 'It had been quite a long winter and even when I got that hundred for MCC I remember feeling exhausted,' he said. 'After that one-day series I began to feel mentally tired and then your confidence takes a knock.'

With three hundreds last season Warwickshire wanted to keep him on but his mind was made up.

'What I will miss least are the warm-ups and the element of monotony in physical preparation,' he said. 'The things I'll miss the most are the camaraderie with the other players and the feeling of hard work paying off when you do well. Ultimately I'm a believer that everything works out for the best.'

And with a c.v. like his, it probably will.