How's Siddle's fitness?

I was impressed by Milf's excellent line and length during T1 and felt we could have really done with Siddle's similar "bowl all day and keep it tight" style.

What's the word on his fitness?

And who's gonna put a rocket up Midge's @rse over his woeful display?

he's building up to return in the Champions League thingy

Cheers Nath. How much better may the seamers have done with Sids steaming in and zooming in on the stumps rather than Midge bowling wide long hops at Tuna Bum?

Yep, Midge was rough first up back from his inury . . .but his 30 with the bat probably saved Oz from a collapse on the morning of Day 3 when the going was fairly tough . . .

This was a test in which the bowlers and batsmen seemed to change roles . . . somewhat . . .

I find Midge infuriating to watch when bowling. He can bowl an absolute peach but it's more by accident than design, apparently. And you know he is on the verge of bowling a 4 ball, every ball.

skully wrote:I find Midge infuriating to watch when bowling. He can bowl an absolute peach but it's more by accident than design, apparently. And you know he is on the verge of bowling a 4 ball, every ball.

He's not the steadiest of Aussie bowlers.

What a guy....

Yep . . .but he imporves with the more bowling he does . . . so stop giving the qunt games off . . .

And I note that he's now used up half the ink from a Perth tattoo parlour on his right arm.

Is Midge the pace bowling version of MacGill?

Zat wrote:Is Midge the pace bowling version of MacGill?

It's a fair analogy.

Except Midge doesn't seem to be quite the miserable turd that Stuey was.

Aye. How grouse would it be if MacGoo was playing and the Forum 5 got some MacGoo-sledge ping pong going with JGK in the Members?

Can we pick a Pom out for the treatment? KP perhaps?

Ian Bell?

Of course. What was I thinking?

Bell is a champion, leave him alone.

An Australian legend.

Sids doesn't like the home truths from the Original Great Man. And FFS @ Pat Howard...

Siddle brushes off Lillee, rests his case

December 5, 2012
Chloe Saltau

PETER SIDDLE has bristled at criticism from Dennis Lillee and described the decision to withdraw him from the deciding Perth Test as ''the right thing to do''.

Siddle said he played a part in the agonising call to rest from the series decider against South Africa after his workload in Adelaide left him with a tight hamstring.

Setting aside his personal disappointment at missing the play-off for the No.1 ranking, and Ricky Ponting's farewell, the Victorian fast bowler said his risk of breaking down during the match, as James Pattinson did in Adelaide, was too great.

''We didn't need a repeat of that in such an important game. Common sense came through in the end. It was just the right thing to do. Obviously I wanted to be out there playing … but after going through what I did in Adelaide, knowing that if I had been the one that got injured … it would have put us out of the game a long way. I think we made the right decision. We didn't win and that's sad, but personally there's still a lot of games for Australia to be won,'' Siddle said.

''It's a combined decision. I give them my honest feedback and I had a good chat with 'Pup' … so I'm not angry about what went on … It was a group decision and in the long run, it's going to pay off for the team and lead to a lot more wins.

''To miss that one match, even with how big it was and being such good mates with Ricky I wanted to be out there with him and be a part of his last game, that was disappointing. But if anything bad happened instead of missing that one match it could end up being seven matches, including [the post-season tour of] India. A lot of thought went into it but in the end I think it was the right choice personally.''

Siddle has since resumed bowling in the nets and declared himself a certain starter for the next Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart.

Criticism of Australia's rest and rotation policy has been led by Lillee, who bowled a phenomenal 535 deliveries in a Test against Pakistan in Adelaide in 1976, and backed up to take 10 wickets in the next match after a two-day break. Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus had three days to recover from bowling 383 and 321 balls respectively in the drawn match at Adelaide Oval.

Lillee said his captain, Ian Chappell, would have had to duck for cover if he had told him to rest from a Test.

''If it had been any other game and they'd come up to me and said I had to be rested but I was feeling fresh, it would be a different story. But Lillee trying to say that for my case, my case was that there'd only been two blokes in the last 20 years who had bowled more overs in a Test match - that goes to show it's not something that happens commonly - and the short turnaround, which is what is expected of us now, puts the pressure on us,'' Siddle responded.

''We play our matches a little bit closer together and the amount some blokes are bowling is exceptional in some of the games. I'm not saying they didn't bowl big overs but there definitely would have been times they had a lot lighter workloads.''

In the grim aftermath of Australia's loss of 309 runs to South Africa, Cricket Australia team performance boss Pat Howard defended the decision to go into the series decider with a new pace attack.

He said England, South Africa and Australia had all made the subtle shift to a ''fit to perform'' philosophy with fast bowlers.

"Each of those countries has identified a group of fast bowlers and picks them for Test matches when they're fit to perform.

"We understand there are a lot of views on this topic but one of the reasons the top teams are managing their resources like this is that modern cricket has added a new format … The top teams are simply adjusting to the reality of the modern schedule.''



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/siddle-brushes-off-lillee-rests-his-case-20121204-2atca.html#ixzz2EA2zLpzs

fair call from sids

You rest your top players against Sri Lanka, not the number 1 team in the World.

Sids made no reference to DKL and didn't directly address his comments.

In short, as 'bristles' go that was too feeble for a $1 K-mart dunny brush.

Fred Nerk wrote:Sids made no reference to DKL and didn't directly address his comments.

In short, as 'bristles' go that was too feeble for a $1 K-mart dunny brush.

From the article:

But Lillee trying to say that for my case, my case was that there'd only been two blokes in the last 20 years who had bowled more overs in a Test match - that goes to show it's not something that happens commonly - and the short turnaround, which is what is expected of us now, puts the pressure on us,'' Siddle responded.

I blame it on his newly vegan status. It has turned his brain and body to mush.

India have been proving for 60 years that being a fast bowler and a vegetarian doesn't work.

Hehehe, true dat.