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Tireless Siddle wants to keep going

Peter Siddle has been one of Australia's busiest players over the past year but he is not looking for a break any time soon

Brydon Coverdale
Brydon Coverdale
19-Jan-2010
Peter Siddle is still learning his trade in the limited-overs arena  •  Getty Images

Peter Siddle is still learning his trade in the limited-overs arena  •  Getty Images

Peter Siddle has been one of Australia's busiest players over the past year but he is not looking for a break any time soon. Mitchell Johnson, another overworked fast man, is being rested for the first three ODIs against Pakistan but Siddle is looking forward to the series as a chance to cement his place in the one-day international side.
For all his importance in the Test attack, Siddle has not yet made himself a must-pick player in the shorter formats. Until the ODI series in England last September, Siddle had played only one 50-over match for his country. He was finally given a run of opportunities in the Champions Trophy and in India, before being sent home with stiffness in his side.
Australia are cautious about the workload for their young fast men with Ben Hilfenhaus already battling a long-term knee injury. Siddle has had few spare days at home since he became a regular in the Test side and a fringe member of the limited-overs outfit but he believes the best way for him to keep up his form is to bowl as often as possible.
"We have played a lot of cricket in the last year or so," Siddle said. "When I was a little bit sore and missing those matches I was glad for the rest, but you don't realise you miss it that much and you do want to be out there playing all the time. For me, playing as much continuous cricket as I can is the best way forward for me and the best way to stay in good form, with good rhythm through the crease when I'm bowling.
"I was comfortable with how I finished off the Champions Trophy, the last few games I played over there I started to get used to the [one-day] game and how to play them. It's going to be good fun to get back into those and hopefully have a bit more success there and keep rolling along how we've been going."
It has been a challenging summer for Siddle, who has been part of a successful attack but has seen all his bowling colleagues end up with far better figures than he has. In the home Tests, Siddle took 11 wickets at 43.09, which was less than half the victims claimed by each of Johnson, Nathan Hauritz and Doug Bollinger, and fewer even than the allrounder Shane Watson.
Ricky Ponting has maintained all along that Siddle's position has not been under threat as he has been performing the vital "bullocking" work that has kept up the pressure on opposition batsmen. When Siddle was eventually given a chance to bowl with the wind - a rare occurrence for him this summer - at Bellerive Oval, the wickets began to flow and he finished the Test with five.
Siddle believes he is bowling as well as he ever has at Test level, in part due to the discipline he has displayed over the past few months. Australia's attack is getting better at bowling teams out and in all six Tests of the home summer - even the draw in Adelaide - they collected 20 wickets a match. He insisted he was never tempted to change his style in the search for more personal success, despite managing only six victims in his first four Tests of the season.
"Where it worked best for us this summer was when I wasn't getting the wickets I stayed patient, I kept working hard and did my job from my end," he said. "In the end we took 20 wickets in every Test. All five or six bowlers or however many we have in the game can't all take five or six wickets a match. You just have to bide your time and keep working at it and your chance will come."

Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo