Australian Speedster Peter Siddle Retires From International Cricket

Veteran Australia pace bowler Peter Siddle on Sunday announced his retirement from international cricket in front of the Australian squad at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was a part of Australia’s 13-member squad for the Boxing Day Test but didn’t feature in the final XI for the ongoing Test.

“It’s always hard to know when the right time is,” he told Fox Cricket as quoted by www.cricket.com.au. “The Ashes was the main goal, to try and get on that touring party and be a part of that series.”

“Once I’d ticked that off, I was talking to ‘Painey’ (captain Tim Paine) and JL – I thought I could have done it there, but the chance of getting one last crack if it came in Australia, to (have one more Test) at home would have been nice. To think as a young kid I wouldn’t get a chance to play, I’m obviously very happy and a bit sad,” added Siddle.

Looking back to Peter Siddle’s career

Although he has hung up his boots from international cricket, he will continue to play in domestic leagues for Victoria, the Adelaide Strikers and English county side Essex. He further added that he will play as long as he can.  Peter Siddle has played 67 Tests for Australia where he has 221 wickets.

He has finished as the 13th highest wicket-taker in the longer format of the game for Australia. In 2010, he picked up a hat-trick on his birthday against England in Brisbane. He made his debut against India in Mohali in October 2008. He has eight five-wicket hauls in his Test career, with a best of 6 for 54. That came against England in the 2010 Ashes Test in Brisbane.

In the next summer, Siddle scalped 23 wickets in the series against India where Australia won 4-0. In 2013-14, he bagged a total of 33 wickets in the Ashes series. He finished with 17 and 16 wickets respectively in the two Ashes. That was the last time he took more than 10 wickets in a series.

However, he also faced rejection in his career and suffered from an injury as well. But, Siddle returned in October 2018 and took part in the two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. He last played for Australia in the fifth Test of the Ashes series this year in England.

Siddle has also played 20 ODIs and his last appearance came against India in January 2019. The Victorian pacer bagged a total of 17 wickets in ODIs. Moreover, he has also played two T20Is against New Zealand in February 2009 and Sri Lanka in October 2010. There he picked up three wickets with an economy of 7.25.