Australian pacer Peter Siddle has called time on his first-class career, bringing to an end a 20-year-long first-class career that saw him take a total of 792 wickets at an average of 26.20.
And Siddle, 40, had a fairytale end to his red-ball career as he bowled Victoria to a nail-biting victory over Western Australia at the WACA, taking a wicket off his very final ball. Siddle finished with match figures of 7/78 as Victoria clinched a 34-run victory.
“I feel like trying to re-sign him but he assures us he’s done,” Victoria head coach Chris Rogers said after the game, reported cricket.com.au.
“What a career. In our quick chat (after the game), Marcus Harris said he’s a great of Australian cricket and he actually is.
“There’s not too many of them going around.
“To be involved in his last game is something pretty special and to see him get some runs this morning, get the first wicket in his first over and then get the last wicket, I don’t think you can write that script, so I’m really happy for him.”
Deservedly, Siddle was given a guard of honour after the game by both the Victoria and Western Australian players.
However, despite signing off from red-ball cricket, Siddle will continue to play in the shortest format; he has already signed a deal to turn up for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League (BBL) next season.
A Test veteran for Australia, Siddle took 221 Test wickets for the Kangaroos. He was the ultimate workhorse, and his finest moment in whites came on his 26th birthday when he took a hat-trick against England at the Gabba, in the curtain-raiser of the 2010/11 Ashes series.
He made his Test debut in 2008, where he claimed Sachin Tendulkar as his maiden Test wicket. Three years later, he spearheaded Australia’s attack in the 4-0 whitewash of India at home, and there he dismissed Virat Kohli four times in the same series.
Siddle’s last Test appearance for Australia came in the 2019 Ashes.
India
