Decorated Siddle eyes 'fitting' end of the road

As much as Peter Siddle would love to play alongside his good mate Scott Boland again, he knows it's probably better if he doesn't.

The pair are teammates once more following Siddle's off-season move back home from Tasmania where he's spent the past three Australian summers playing with some other close mates in Jackson Bird, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade.

Almost four years on from his final Test at The Oval during Australia's last Ashes tour in 2019 – a venue Boland played a defining role in the World Test Championship final and may yet in this Ashes series – Siddle understands his playing opportunities with Victoria may be limited.

He doesn't expect to play every game across the next two years, nor does he want to.

In fact, he sees it as a positive if he's not getting picked in the team.

Image Id: D7540A9958A2425E9821526031AEA848 Image Caption: Peter Siddle departs The Oval with Nathan Lyon in 2019 // Getty

Having endeared himself to the Victorian and Australian cricket loving public across almost two decades with his lion-hearted performances and team first mentality, the 38-year-old's legacy could well be the influence he has on the next generation of fast bowlers.

Take Boland for instance; nurtured by Siddle at Victoria for almost decade before evolving into the leader of the attack when the latter left for Tasmania and then into one of Australia's four premier fast bowlers with the same relentless consistency that characterised Siddle's 11 years in national colours.

But after three years on the other side of Bass Strait, the former Test paceman has signed a two-year deal to return to his native Victoria – where he spent the first 15 years of his first-class career – in a player-mentor role to help fill the void left by his good mate's elevation to the Australian side.

"In an ideal world – if everyone's fit and firing – we don't get to play with each other, which is disappointing," Siddle tells cricket.com.au.

"But for the development of the team, the development of these young guys, and touch wood they stay on the park and they're fit, that if Scotty and I don't play a game together for the next couple of years, that's a good thing and that'd be great for Victorian cricket.

"I'm pretty happy in the chats that I've had with 'Bucky' (Chris) Rogers (Victoria head coach), Graham Manou (Cricket Victoria general manager of Cricket Performance) and 'Huss' (David Hussey, CV Head of Male Cricket) that the next couple of years my playing time will be a little bit less than it probably has in previous seasons.

"Which I'm fine with.

"The excitement for me has always been the last few years working with younger guys helping them develop and see them progress and that's what I'm looking forward to most about coming back to Victoria."

***

Siddle admits it was never the plan to return to Victoria.

Halfway through his 17th year of professional cricket last December, having fallen in love with Hobart and Tasmania, he was content with finishing his decorated career there.

After 67 Tests for Australia for 221 wickets, an Ashes series whitewash in 2013-14, two Sheffield Shield titles, a Big Bash crown with the Adelaide Strikers and more than 700 first-class wickets, there wasn't much he hadn't accomplished.

"I was content with being down in Tassie, I loved it," says Siddle, speaking to cricket.com.au from the UK where he has been sidelined for Somerset for the past three weeks with a broken little finger and split webbing on his bowling hand.

"I thought at that stage I'd probably finish my career down there.

"The experiences I got to have with fresh faces, working with different people and stepping outside my comfort zone, that's what I learnt the most, and the opportunity to play alongside some of my good mates was something that I'll remember for a long time."

Image Id: DC331500910C42A7A6DAC6E52C88E1E1 Image Caption: Siddle with Somerset teammates before a County Championship match in April // Getty

But deep down there was something missing, he just didn't know it yet until a call out of the blue from a couple of old teammates not long after the New Year.

"I'd never thought about coming back," says Siddle.

"But the chats that I had with Graham (Manou) and 'Huss' (Hussey) earlier in the year got me thinking about coming home.

"And that's where then I started to think about friends and family and getting back around them. I missed those things a lot more than I probably realised I did."

The seed had been planted.

By mid-February, Hussey had declared on RSN radio that the Vics wanted Siddle back. 

"For him to retire as a Victorian player; he's played all three formats of the game for Australia and he should be retired as a Victorian great," he said on February 21.

"(Siddle) playing out his cricketing days as a Victorian player would be fantastic and really help tutor and mentor some of our younger bowlers to fast-track their development to hopefully playing international cricket."

By the end of the Marsh Sheffield Shield season in March, the right-armer had confirmed he was leaving Tasmania. Victoria then announced he had signed a two-year contract when they revealed their 2023-24 squad in early May.

"It's not so much the cricket side of things, I think for me personally the cricket will look after itself," says Siddle. "But just the opportunity to be closer to friends and family; I love Melbourne so the lure of those things is what dragged me back.

"Once I had that option to potentially come back, the feeling of being back home at Victoria, the thought of finishing my career at Victoria was quite appealing.

"Also, the excitement of being around the group that they've got at the moment; it's a nice, young, exciting, talented group so to be able to come back and play alongside them and help work with those guys, I guess it all just built up to a great opportunity."

***

Despite being on rival teams for the past three seasons, Siddle has kept a close eye on the development of Victoria's young pace attack.

A few of them – Will Sutherland and Mitch Perry – he played alongside while still at the Vics, and others – such as Fergus O'Neill, Cameron McClure and Sam Elliott – he has played against.

He sees a lot of himself in the likes of Perry and O'Neill, who both played starring roles in the state's run of five consecutive wins to reach last season's Shield final.

"They've (Perry and O'Neill) spent a lot more time with Scotty Boland over the last couple of years and he's quite similar as well in the fact that we sort of seam the ball around with a little bit of swing," says Siddle.

"They bang the right areas, they're consistent so I guess it's a little bit of the work that I probably did with 'Baz' (Boland) over the years and the chats that we had and then there's the information that he's passed on over the last couple of years.

"He's led that attack amazingly so to fill that void a little bit with Scotty gone a fair chunk of the summers now on national duty, and hopefully that may continue again throughout this year, that I can help out and support that group. 

"These guys have developed well, and they've developed quite rapidly with the exposure to and pressure of first-class cricket, they've had to stand up and step up quickly, because they probably didn't have that experience around them as much as they might have previously. 

"(I'm going to) play my role in the next couple of years, helping develop them and helping Victorian cricket stay strong and hopefully get back to having some success."

And having watched from afar as Victoria finished runners-up to Western Australia the past two Sheffield Shield seasons, Siddle believes that experience is the best development they could get.

"You've seen them grow as players, you've seen all three of the young guys – Sutherland, Perry and Fergus (O'Neill) – at different stages stand up and be the leader of that attack," he says.

"You can't buy those opportunities. So, over the next couple of years, it's just about keep growing, keep that consistency going. They've experienced the hard times of losing a couple of Shield finals that when that opportunity presents again, the experiences that they've learnt will definitely change the outcome."

***

Siddle knows with retirement looming, he wants to get as much out of his body as possible.

"All my friends that retired before me have always (said) how much they miss it those first few years out," he says. "So I just thought if I can play for as long as I can, get everything out of the game that I can while I'm here, I'd be happy."

And right now, he's happy. It's part of what made the decision to move back to Melbourne an easier one.

He's adamant this year will be his final county campaign having originally planned for 2022 to be his last in the UK, but after falling just short in the T20 Blast semi-final at Edgbaston and a mid-table finish in the County Championship, Australia's 15th most prolific Test bowler was talked into another season abroad by his Somerset teammates.

Despite how much he still loves playing cricket – especially the red-ball format – Siddle knows he needs some time to just "enjoy life a little bit".

"I'm very content in the fact that after this two-year stint with Victoria as a player-coach that my playing days will be done," he says.

"There's nothing (left) in the game that I want to achieve.

"For everything Victoria has given me throughout my career … to come back and be able to finish there, it's going to be quite fitting and quite special to me that I can finish in a place that I spent so much of my life and around some people that are very close to me."