Australia pacer Peter Siddle retires from international cricket

Australian cricket team’s veteran pacer, Peter Siddle, having played international cricket for 11 years, has announced his retirement from the sport. Siddle had been a part of the Australian side in 67 Test matches, 20 One Day Internationals and 2 T20Is. He took 240 wickets in his international career and also scored more than a thousand runs with the bat in the purest form of the game.

Siddle who had been called in by the Australian Head Coach Justin Langer, for the ongoing Boxing Day Test match, announced in the dressing room before the start of the 4th day’s play, that he will be retiring from the game. While speaking to Fox Cricket about the same Siddle revealed that he was thinking bringing curtains down on his career soon after the Ashes. However, the hope of getting one last chance to play in Australia kept him going.

“It’s always hard to know what the right time is, it was sort of the Ashes – that 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’d been chatting with JL and Painey throughout that series, I could have done it there, but the chance of maybe getting one last crack if it came up in Australia, do it at home would have been nice.

“But I can be content, 67 Tests, to think as a young kid that I wouldn’t get a chance I’m very happy and a bit sad,” he said. Peter Siddle had been a sensation right from the start. In his days at the domestic level of the sport in Australia, he had grabbed the headlines for the first time in 2008, when he led his side to victory against Victoria in the Sheffield shield. And, what followed was a dream run for him.

He went on to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar in his very first series, and got a hat-trick against England in 2010, on his birthday. Siddle, right throughout his career, faced a lot of injuries, missed opportunities, downtime in his form, but the resilience and self-control he showed during the tough times were the main reason that he was able to play for more than a decade.

Justin Langer praises Peter Siddle

Bidding farewell to a veteran like him can be a tough task for anyone and this long message from the Australian coach Justin Langer after Peter Siddle’s retirement sums it all. Langer said, “The year after I retired from playing, Matty Hayden and Ricky Ponting were raving about this guy called Peter Siddle. If it came from them, you knew it was right and so it proved throughout his brilliant international career.

“He is an unbelievable bloke and an extremely good cricketer. He is everything of what a team player is. He has given his heart and soul to the Australian team and the game of cricket. We’ll always be thankful to him for what he’s given to the national team, and for the critical role, he played in helping us retain the Ashes in England this year. He’s going out when he’s still playing well which, in a perfect world, is something every athlete wants to do.”

But even when Peter Siddle will be walking away from the international arena, there is one thing that will keep his fans happy. And, that is the indication from him that he will continue playing in the domestic circuit, i.e. for Victoria and Essex.

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