Australia Cricket / Andrew Hughes / 01 January 2009 / Leave a comment

With the retirements of McGrath, Warne, Hogg and McGill and waning powers of Kasprowicz and Gillespie, Australia are in a need of a new champion bowler. Peter Siddle may not necessarily be that man but that's not to say that the likes of Cook and Bell will be looking forward to facing him next summer, says Andrew Hughes.

The barbarians are at the gate! In fact, they've just kicked down the gate, lowered the Aussie flag and set fire to Ian Chappell's slippers. The empire has fallen and the baggy green shadow of Australian dominance has been lifted from the face of the globe. At least for a bit.

Enjoy it while it lasts. With Hayden on his last legs and Clark, Lee and Symonds wounded, now is the time for that outback cricketer-cloning laboratory to churn out some more stars. In fact, it's already begun. And unlike your average English county graduate, there's a chance that most of these players will be pretty good.

Of course, change can be confusing. If, like me, you struggled in the nineties to remember which one was Blewett and which one was Bevan, the new batch of Aussie players is likely to be equally baffling. But never fear. Here at Betfair we are forever shining our torch into the dingy crevices of the cricket world. We'll help you to tell your Noffkes from your Hilfenhauses; your Bollingers from your McDonalds. And we're going to begin with the upstart who has barged his way to the head of the fast bowling queue, the man they call 'Vicious'.

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's Peter Siddle

His nickname is a minor classic of ingenuity. Siddle - Sid - Sid Vicious - Vicious. Genius. (If you're wondering who Sid Vicious is, then you're probably Ray Illingworth and there's nothing I can do to help you). Siddle is a twenty-three year old Victorian who was promoted ahead of Hilfenhaus, Bollinger and Noffke, on the back of just eleven first class games in which he took 41 wickets at 21.65 apiece. He rattled Gautam Ghambir's helmet with his first delivery in Test cricket and at the MCG last week, he roared in and took 4-81 in South Africa's first innings, blasting out McKenzie and De Villiers with raw pace.

He used to be a lumberjack and he's okay

As a teenager, Siddle whiled away his spare time as a competitive wood chopper. (Yes really.) His tree-bothering days are behind him now, but it has left him with an unwanted legacy of weakness in his right shoulder that persists despite the reconstructive surgery he underwent two years ago. Unkind commentators have also suggested his generously proportioned frame might create extra physical strain. But in a world of dieticians and super-athletes, it's quite refreshing to see men like Siddle, New Zealand's Jesse Ryder and our own Samit Patel bringing fat back. And though he claims to have modelled his bowling on Alan Donald and Glen McGrath, the former bowler he most resembles is that other hefty Victorian, the great Mervyn Gregory Hughes.

Are you Mervyn in disguise?

Siddle favours the beached blond look rather than the bushy tache, but like Hughes, he hits the pitch hard, has a nasty bouncer to unleash and is pretty accurate. Above all, he is quick, repeatedly hitting 150kph at the MCG. It is easy to imagine many batsmen around the world trying to duck out of a confrontation with Siddle, particularly those, such as England's Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, who are known to flinch a little in the face of hostile pace bowling. With Clark and Lee injured, Siddle has an opportunity to nail down his place as first reserve pace bowler ahead of his rivals and, as long as his shoulder holds out, could be a real workhorse for Australia for years to come.

The Empire Strikes Back

Siddle is sure to play at Sydney, along with another new boy, all-rounder Andrew McDonald and one of Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger. The Aussies will be pumped up as never before and punters who are lumping on the series whitewash would be well advised to remember what happened at the Oval this summer. With the series wrapped up, South Africa daydreamed through the game and handed England a consolation victory. In that context, the [3.3] about a South African win in the third and final Test starting on Saturday looks rather less attractive than the [3.2] about an Aussie win.