Peter Siddle

Early life and career

Siddle was born in Traralgon, Victoria and grew up in nearby Morwell in the Gippsland region.

In 2003, Siddle attended the Australian Cricket Academy and made his first-class debut playing for Victoria against a touring West Indian side at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in November 2005. In 2006, he attended the academy again and was offered a full contract with the Victorian Bushrangers for the 2006–07 season. Shoulder injuries began to hamper Siddle, with a shoulder reconstruction sidelining him for most of the 2006–07 season and further problems interrupting the 2007–08 season. and taking nine wickets in Victoria's Pura Cup final loss to New South Wales. Siddle required a second shoulder reconstruction at the end of the season and, despite missing more than half of the season due to shoulder injuries, took 33 wickets at an average of 15.75 to attract attention from national selectors.

Test career (2008–2019)

Emerging Player of the Year (2008–2009)

After touring India with Australia A, Siddle was named in the national 15-man squad for the four-Test tour of India on 12 September 2008, as back up to established bowlers Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson. When Clark injured his elbow prior to the second Test, Siddle was selected in the match squad. He made his Test debut at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on 16 October 2008. His first ball was a bouncer which hit Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir in the head, before taking his maiden Test wicket, that of Sachin Tendulkar. He picked up figures of 3/114 in the first innings, and finished the match with figures of 4/176.

Siddle lost his position in the team when Clark recovered, but regained his position in the side for the first Test against South Africa at the WACA due to Clark's elbow injury recurring. Siddle backed this performance up in the next Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, taking five for 59 in South Africa's first innings. His efforts were not enough, however, to prevent Australia from succumbing to a historic home series defeat.

Siddle also gave a fine account of himself on the South African leg of the rubber, in which the Australians triumphed 2–1. Going into the 2009 Ashes series, he had notched up 29 Test wickets at an average of 27.65. The fact that it had come in six Tests against the South Africans and one against India in India, with an economy rate of only 2.57 an over, helped make his record look even more impressive.

In the first Test of the Ashes series against England, Siddle took 2/97 on the first day's play. Siddle then took 5/21 on the first day of the fourth Test, which, to that point, were his career best bowling figures in an innings in Test cricket. After the Ashes, Siddle was named the ICC Emerging Player of the Year for 2009.

Hat-trick and injury problems (2009–2013)

Siddle had a relatively quiet 2009–10 season before a back stress fracture ruled him out of cricket in January 2010. Siddle was able to recover from the injury in time for the 2010–11 Ashes series in Australia the next summer.

In his first Test match back, on 25 November 2010, Siddle's 26th birthday, he became the ninth Australian to take a Test hat-trick, and first cricketer to take a hat-trick on his birthday.

Despite a heavy series defeat to England, Siddle had another successful match in the Boxing Day Test Match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, taking 6/75 in an innings defeat. Siddle started to enjoy more consistent success, starring against India the next summer with 23 wickets at an average of 18.65. During the series, he took his 100th Test wicket at the SCG on 3 January 2012, to rise to a career-high seventh in the ICC's Test bowler rankings. In the final match of the series he took impressive innings bowling figures of 5/49 on a batting wicket at the Adelaide Oval, For this performance he was named the man of the match.

During Australia's tour of the West Indies in early 2012, Siddle suffered another back injury and had to fly home early from the tour. but due to his injury he was unable to fulfill his contract with the club. Siddle returned to the Australian Test team for their series against South Africa at the end of 2012. Whilst out injured, he decided to become a vegetarian. Siddle was forced to bowl for a long time again in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval, he bowled 63.5 overs — the most by any Australian fast bowler in a single Test match in the 21st century — as his workload had been compounded by an injury to teammate James Pattinson mid-match. Australia needed to bowl South Africa out in the final two days of the Test match to avoid a second consecutive draw, with Siddle being the most successful Australian bowler with four wickets. Whilst showing clear signs of exhaustion throughout the final day, Siddle pushed through and took wickets late in the match but was unable to get Australia the win.

Following his heavy workload in the first two Tests of the series, Siddle was rested for the final match. When Siddle returned to the Test team for the series against Sri Lanka, he registered his career-best bowling figures in Test cricket, taking nine wickets across both of Sri Lanka's innings. His spell of 4 for 50 at Hobart was nominated to be one of the best Test bowling performances of the year by ESPNCricinfo. Siddle then struggled to make an impact with his bowling in India,

Back-to-back Ashes series (2013–2014)

Despite nearly constant speculation about his place in the Test team, Siddle was the only Australian bowler to play all ten Tests across the 2013 and 2013–14 Ashes series against England, bowling reliably throughout the two series. But his form waned towards the end of the season and he only took one wicket across the last two Tests of the series, which Australia lost 3–0. Again, there were critics who blamed Siddle's poor form on his diet, but Siddle continued to deny that his diet had anything to do with his poor form.

Siddle was also an integral part of Australia's bowling attack when they won the second series in Australia 5–0. Pietersen said that the reason for this was that he didn't have the patience to work through Siddle's 'robotic' and 'suffocating' tactics, and Siddle would bowl with consistently good line and length for long periods of time, resulting in Pietersen scoring much slower against Siddle than against any of the other bowlers in the Australian team. No other bowler dismissed Pietersen on more occasions in Test cricket than Siddle did.

More Test matches (2014–2016)

Siddle became a victim of the Australian selectors' changing policy, focusing more on outright pace than consistent line and length, resulting in him being dropped from the team when he started to lose some of his bowling speed in early 2014. There were again critics who blamed his weight loss and slower bowling on his diet, but Siddle blamed it on the fatigue associated with bowling regularly for long periods of time. No longer a regular part of the Test team, Siddle lost his contract with Cricket Australia in early 2015.

Siddle signed to play for Nottinghamshire in 2014, making himself available for all of the LV County Championship and 50-over matches, but not the Twenty20 matches. In July 2014, he played for the Rest of the World side in the Bicentenary Celebration match at Lord's.

Siddle started to make a comeback to Test cricket in 2015, being brought into Australia's team for the 2015 Ashes series. He subsequently became a regular part of the Australian bowling lineup due to the retirement of Mitchell Johnson and an injury to Mitchell Starc. He played enough Test cricket to get himself back on a Cricket Australia contract,

Despite the stress fractures in his back keeping him out of cricket for most of 2016, Siddle still retained his contract with Cricket Australia for the 2016–17 season. This appeared to be Siddle's final Test match for Australia, as he was dropped from the side for the second Test with a back injury. During this summer, the Australian selectors worked on reshaping their bowling attack by focusing more on youth and outright pace, which left Siddle off of their radar moving forwards.

Injury and return to Test cricket (2016–2019)

Siddle's injury kept him out of cricket for a year but, when he returned for the 2017–18 season, he was told that he was still in contention to play Test cricket as James Pattinson was injured and the selectors were looking to protect their young pace attack from being overworked in the upcoming 2017–18 Ashes series. He played every game for Victoria in the 2017–18 JLT One-Day Cup, including an impressive 2/20 performance against the Cricket Australia XI at the tiny Hurstville Oval, a difficult ground to bowl at due to its short boundaries. He then played four of Victoria's first five matches in the 2017–18 Sheffield Shield season, but he only took four wickets and was not included in Australia's squad for the Ashes. This was the first Ashes series he had missed since the 2006–07 Ashes series before his Test debut.

In July 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2019 Ashes series in England.

Later career

On 29 December 2019, Siddle retired from international cricket, effective immediately.

In January 2026, while 41 years old, Siddle bowled a delivery at 145.8kph.

Player profile

Siddle is a right-arm fast-medium bowler who also bats right-handed. He has primarily been used as a workhorse, bowling for long periods of time, such as bowling the most overs by an Australian fast bowler in a 21st-century Test match against South Africa in 2012. His charging run-up and powerful delivery is followed by worrying bounce off the pitch.

Siddle is a Test cricket specialist, bowling with great consistency over long periods of time, worrying aggressive batsmen like Kevin Pietersen. Though he did have a brief stint in Australia's limited overs team, issues with his playing style made it difficult for him to make the same impact that he made in Test cricket. His consistent line and length was easy for batsmen to predict in ODI's and he did not have enough variations in his bowling to succeed in T20 International's. Over his career, he toured England 4 times for the Ashes series.

Veganism

Siddle has been a vegan since 2012 when his partner, Anna, an animal rights activist, convinced him to adopt the lifestyle. He is well known for his diet, which involves him eating as many as 20 bananas a day. After becoming a vegan, Siddle faced criticism that his change of diet led to fatigue and slower bowling speeds.

Siddle has always denied that his poor form was related to his diet change. When he was rested from the third Test against South Africa, he said that it was because of the heavy workload he had faced in the previous two Tests, which had been one of the heaviest workloads of any Australian fast bowler in the 21st century.

Siddle is also an animals rights activist, doing charity work for Animals Australia's campaign against factory farming, Edgar's Mission (a sanctuary for farm animals) and the Penguin Foundation, which protects penguins living on Phillip Island.

Personal life

Siddle was married to Anna Weatherlake. They became engaged in 2015 after being together for about four years,

References

References

1. [https://www.cricket.com.au/players/peter-siddle/etLzfYVWOU-tHh0yWcDeCA Peter Siddle], Cricket Australia. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
2. Coverdale, Brydon. "Peter Siddle {{!}} Cricket Players and Officials". [[ESPNcricinfo]].
3. Saltau, Chloe. (17 December 2008). "Crunch time as axeman cometh". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
4. "Peter Siddle". [[Cricket Australia.
5. "Final, Pura Cup at Sydney, Mar 15–19 2008 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
6. (12 September 2008). "Siddle sidles into Test reckoning". ESPNcricinfo.
7. "2nd Test, Australia tour of India at Chandigarh, Oct 17–21 2008 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
8. "2nd Test, South Africa tour of Australia at Melbourne, Dec 26–30 2008 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
9. "2nd Test, South Africa tour of Australia at Melbourne, Dec 26–30 2008 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
10. "Results {{!}} Global". ESPNcricinfo.
11. Booth, Lawrence. (30 June 2009). "Myths; And stereotypes". [[The Guardian]].
12. "Bowling records {{!}} Test matches {{!}} Cricinfo Statsguru". ESPNcricinfo.
13. "1st Test, Australia tour of England and Scotland at Cardiff, Jul 8–12 2009 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
14. "Cricket Records {{!}} Records {{!}} / {{!}} Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 2011/12 {{!}} Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo.
15. (30 December 2010). "Siddle, Trott jump up rankings". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
16. (30 December 2010). "Siddle, Herath achieve career-best rankings". India Blooms.
17. "4th Test, India tour of Australia at Adelaide, Jan 24–28 2012 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
18. Barrett, Chris. (29 January 2012). "Rising from the Ashes". The Sydney Morning Herald.
19. (26 April 2012). "Injury rules out Siddle for Essex". ESPNcricinfo.
20. "1st Test, South Africa tour of Australia at Brisbane, Nov 9–13 2012 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
21. (2013-01-10). "Monty, Vernon and Co".
22. Conn, Malcolm. (25 October 2013). "Vegan diet to fuel Australian bowler Peter Siddle's bid to beat England's batsmen this summer". [[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
23. "4th Test, Australia tour of England and Scotland at Chester-le-Street, Aug 9–12 2013 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
24. "5th Test, Australia tour of England and Scotland at London, Aug 21–25 2013 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
25. "Bowling records {{!}} Test matches {{!}} Cricinfo Statsguru". ESPNcricinfo.
26. "Bowling records {{!}} Test matches {{!}} Cricinfo Statsguru". ESPNcricinfo.
27. Ramsey, Andrew. (14 October 2014). "KP admits to Siddle torment". cricket.com.au.
28. Coverdale, Brydon. (14 December 2013). "Siddle maintains stranglehold over Pietersen". ESPNcricinfo.
29. Bowden, Alex. (4 September 2014). "How much does overtraining have to do with loss of form?". ESPNcricinfo.
30. Coverdale, Brydon. (1 April 2016). "Siddle keeps Cricket Australia contract". ESPNcricinfo.
31. (13 November 2013). "NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SIGN PETER SIDDLE FOR 2014 SEASON". [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.
32. (5 July 2014). "MCC v Rest of the World – 5 July". [[Lord's.
33. Sadanandan, Hariprasad. "Peter Siddle Profile – ICC Ranking, Age, Career Info & Stats". [[CricBuzz.
34. Barrett, Chris. (6 December 2015). "Need for speed not everything for Australian fast bowlers, insists Peter Siddle". The Sydney Morning Herald.
35. (25 February 2016). "Peter Siddle has stress fractures in his back, Cricket Australia reveals". abc.net.au.
36. "1st Test, South Africa tour of Australia at Perth, Nov 3–7 2016 {{!}} Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo.
37. Earle, Richard. (14 December 2017). "Peter Siddle has more Tests in the tank but wants to make a statement in BBL for Strikers". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide).
38. Horne, Ben. (11 October 2017). "Ashes fire still burns bright for Peter Siddle as he pushed his claims for Test selection". The Daily Telegraph.
39. Barrett, Chris. (10 October 2017). "The Ashes 2017: Peter Siddle worth spot in Australian attack, says Victoria coach". The Sydney Morning Herald.
40. (26 July 2019). "Australia name 17-man Ashes squad".
41. (26 July 2019). "Bancroft, Wade and Mitchell Marsh earn Ashes call-ups".
42. (January 2026). "Watch: 41-year-old Peter Siddle bowls 145.8kph delivery".
43. Bull, Andy. (10 May 2015). "Meet Peter Siddle – the shih-tzu-stroking, penguin-loving Aussie hardman". [[The Guardian]].
44. (21 August 2022). "Aussie cricketer Peter Siddle splits from his influencer wife Anna Weatherlake". 7NEWS.
45. (22 August 2022). "Peter Siddle and Anna Weatherlike split after five years of marriage". News.com.au.