Where to now for Peter Siddle?

Peter Siddle
PREVIEW: Second Test: Australia v India 

The Sheffield Shield's mid-season hiatus and the country's new crop of young fast bowlers means Siddle might never play for Australia again.  

The Victorian right-armer was one of three exclusions for this week's second Test in Brisbane, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood joining Mitchell Johnson in Australia's pace attack.  

While Michael Clarke and Ryan Harris were omitted due to injury, Siddle's exclusion was wholly based on his steady decline with the ball. 

Already on the fringe of exclusion, Siddle was largely unthreatening with the ball in Adelaide, and now faces the prospect of slipping below the younger members of the pace attack in the pecking order.

Traditionally, players dropped from the Test side use Sheffield Shield to impress their way back into the national team. 

The problem is there is no Sheffield Shield cricket until February. 


Siddle, like all of Australia's bowlers, struggled for form during the series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. Photo: Getty

Siddle has a never-say-die attitude, but it's hard to see him playing a further part in the Border-Gavaskar Series - save for injuries in the Australian team. 

So the 56-Test veteran will spend the summer playing for Melbourne Renegades, with the potential for some Victorian Premier Cricket to be squeezed in before the Bushrangers resume the four-day season at the Gabba on February 7.  
Making the World Cup squad seems farfetched when you consider he has not played an ODI since 2010.

The other problem for Siddle is his age, and the abundance of young quicks knocking on the door of Test selection. 

Hazlewood and Starc are his immediate successors, while selectors also have their eyes on Sean Abbott from New South Wales and Western Australian left-armer Jason Behrendorff.
Australia's next Test series is in June 2015 against the West Indies. By then rehabilitating trio James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Jackson Bird are slated to be fit and firing.

Siddle was dropped from Australia's Test side for the first time in two and a half years during their tour of South Africa in March, when he was replaced by Pattinson for the third and deciding match.

Australian coach Darren Lehmann said it was purely a matter of pace.

After a well-earned rest during the home winter, Siddle was duly recalled for October's series against Pakistan but was one of many Australians to reap modest rewards on pitches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi that were devoid of much bounce.
A match-winning five-wicket haul for Victoria against South Australia kept Hazlewood at bay for the Adelaide Test. But Siddle laboured under illness and was regularly clocked at less than 130km/h, as he finished with two wickets for the match.

Lion-hearted Siddle has plenty of credits in the bank. He was part of an unchanged bowling attack that won the Ashes 5-0 last summer.

But now he's on the outer, and only renewed vigour and fresh successes can help him reclaim his international career. 

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