One of the quickest fast bowlers to come out of Canterbury this century has announced his retirement ahead of the forthcoming summer.
Ed Nuttall was carrying on a family tradition when he made his Canterbury debut in February 2012: his father Andrew had played first-class and one-day cricket for Canterbury in the late 70s and 1980s, but unlike his father's handy left-arm spin, Ed's deliveries were at a sharp pace.
The Nuttall family cricket album doesn't stop there. Ed has an identical twin brother, Jack, who was a handy club rep and their older brother, Henry, had represented Canterbury Under 17 Men.
Andrew, incidentally, is still to be found rolling his arm over at Veterans level, having played in the inaugural New Zealand Over 50s team in 2018 and now still going strong at Over-60s level, representing New Zealand at the Over 60s World Cup.
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So the force runs strong in this one, and Ed debuted for Canterbury pretty much straight out of Christchurch Boys' High School. He was soon playing for New Zealand at the 2012 ICC Under-19 World Cup.
Steaming in as a left-armer with an ability to swing the ball in late, he made his Canterbury debut initially in the one-day format (February 2012 in Dunedin, where his maiden wicket was Neil Broom) and he added first-class cricket to his resumé the following month (also in Dunedin, where he opened his account by removing another future BLACKCAP, Michael Bracewell).
It was the start of a career that produced 134 first-class wickets from 44 matches, including four bags; 41 of those matches in Canterbury's red and black cap and the balance for New Zealand A.
Maturing from a raw youth with a need to speed into a more disciplined, strong and accurate bowler, and one still with an x-factor about him, under Canterbury coach Gary Stead his breakout performance arrived in his fourth season when he snared 6/35 in the second innings of Canterbury's final Plunket Shield match against Northern Districts at Mt Maunganui - which helped Canterbury clinch back-to-back titles that season.
That bag remained his career best, but he took two more bags in each of the following seasons, and finished with four of them all up in the red-ball format.
Unfortunately injuries came calling regularly, Nuttall's 12-year career peppered with challenging layoffs and comebacks. But whenever he was fit, his genuine pace and wicket-taking ability was an asset to his side, and in 2020/21 he chalked up 27 wickets for the season.
In the one-day arena, "Nutts" made 53 appearances for Canterbury in The Ford Trophy, together with a cap for New Zealand A. He took 73 wickets with a best of 4/50.
In 2015, after shaking off a hamstring niggle, he had finally got to play in the Super Smash as well. It was the first of 77 T20 caps for the Kings between 2015/16 and 2022/23 that produced 73 wickets.
Nuttall's last appearance for Canterbury was in February 2024 in the Plunket Shield, and fittingly it has turned out to have been at his home ground, MainPower Oval in Rangiora.
Whenever he was available for Canterbury Country in the Hawke Cup, opposition batsmen braced themselves for a workover, and he tasted success from that chalice as well.
Nuttall retires to build a new career in the insurance industry, and says he hopes to be in a position to give back to the game he loves in the future.