Australian Peter Siddle joined Nottinghamshire as the County’s overseas player for 2014. An experienced Test match performer, he had made already his mark at Trent Bridge with a five-wicket haul during the 2013 Ashes.
Peter Matthew Siddle was born in Traralgon, Victoria on 25 November 1984. His first ‘sport’ was competitive woodchopping, something he was introduced to by his father. He gave this up during his teenage years and focused instead on his cricket and made his mark when he broke a state junior record in taking 11 wickets in an Under-17 match. A right arm pace bowler and lower order batsman capable of scoring useful runs, Siddle made his First-Class and List-A debuts for Victoria in 2005 and broke into the Australian Test and One-Day International teams in 2008/09.
He toured England in 2009 and 2013 and played in all five Tests in both series. He played his first match at Trent Bridge in the first Ashes Test of 2013, taking eight wickets in the match and getting his name on the honours board with the wickets of Root, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Prior to take 5-50 in England’s first innings. He also became known for a non-cricketing statistic, apparently consuming more than 15 bananas each day after adopting a vegan diet in 2012.
Siddle had played 53 Tests plus 17 One-Day and two T20 Internationals when he arrived at Trent Bridge and had just been part of the Australian side which regained the Ashes in a 5-0 whitewash on home soil. He had not played English county cricket previously and was engaged to play for the whole season in County Championship and One-Day Cup matches. He made his Nottinghamshire debut at Lord’s in mid-April in the Championship match against Middlesex. Siddle played in 11 First-Class fixtures before being recalled by Cricket Australia, who exercised their right through his central contract to manage his workload and playing schedule.
He left in mid-July before having the opportunity to play limited overs cricket for Nottinghamshire. In his Championship appearances, he took 37 wickets, with a best of 4-61 against Northamptonshire, and contributed 250 runs, with a top score of 48no.
Siddle had a brief four-match spell with Lancashire ahead of the 2015 Ashes in England and was re-signed by Nottinghamshire for the 2016 season. Having made a good impression with the County in 2014, he secured a two-year deal but he was ultimately forced to withdraw following the diagnosis of stress fractures in his back.
Returning to fitness for the 2016/17 season, Siddle resumed his career in Australian domestic cricket and earned a recall to the national side. He won the 2017/18 Big Bash title with Adelaide Strikers and played again in England with Essex in 2018 and in 2019 as part of their Championship winning side.
At the end of 2019, he announced his retirement from international cricket after a career that spanned 11 years. Siddle, then 35, played 67 Tests taking 221 wickets at 30.66, his last match coming in the final Test of the 2019 Ashes series in England.
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 626
See Peter Siddle's career stats (to date) here