Fitter Siddle targets international return

Peter Siddle's recovery from a stress fracture of the back is progressing, with the fast bowler returning to bowling in the nets and targeting an international return before the Ashes in Australia at the end of the year.

Siddle, who had stress fractures early in his career and has also been troubled by his shoulder, has spent much of the time since his latest injury in February working on his fitness, training with Justin Cordy, the fitness specialist at AFL club Carlton who has also worked with the Australian national cricket side.

"Probably the body over the last few years wasn't in the shape that I would have liked and which probably is required to play Test cricket," said Siddle. "If you look at Mitchell Johnson and the shape he is in, he has performed well for three years straight. He has been the only one up until now injury free.

"Credit to him and the way he got his body ready. That's something that I have worked hard on over the last few months. Hopefully I have done enough right."

While focussing on his fitness, Siddle has also made some minor adjustments to his bowling action and plans to work on adding a few new deliveries to his repertoire, specifically for use in the shorter formats of the game, as he sweats his way back to bowling fitness.

"There has been a little bit that I have had to change but the biggest thing was when I got tired bowling those 20 to 25 overs in a day, the action changed slightly," he said. "It's just a matter of maintaining the strength and condition more than anything in those latter periods of the day.

"As a fast bowler, you are always trying to work on some new trick, or something that you can add to your game. For me, it's a little bit of swing and a few different things for Twenty20 cricket. It will be something that I will work on once I get back into the bowling phase of things and start getting back out into the nets again and try and progress into something new so when I come back I have that added extra."