‘Focused’ Siddle says no to ODIs to give best shot in Tests

Sydney: Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle has put his one-day international aspirations on the back burner for the next 13 months in a bid to ensure he is at his total best for Test matches against India and the end-to-end Ashes series. Siddle has not played a limited-overs international for two years, while last summer he was striving to reclaim his ODI squad berth this summer he has shunned all limited-overs matches, even for Victoria.

Siddle is also the only player centrally contracted to Cricket Australia to not also hold a Big Bash League deal. Siddle is part of Melbourne Stars`` supplementary list but that purely as back up in case the team qualifies for next year`s Champions League Twenty20 tournament and is beset by injuries. “At the moment I didn`t want to play in the BBL. It was part of wanting to concentrate on Tests, the same thing I spoke about earlier in the year leading into the Test matches, that I wanted to miss the Ryobi [Cup] games and concentrate on the red ball,” the Age quoted Siddle, as saying. “With the 12 months we`ve got coming up from now it is such a big time for us as a Test team that the best thing for me was to focus on that, try and bowl as many overs as I can throughout training, in games and get the body obviously very ready and raring to go for Test cricket. That was my plan and that`s the one I want to stick with,” he added. “Hopefully after this year I can have a good crack at one-day cricket again and see how I go but obviously there is a lot on the line for us as a Test team and wanting to get back to No.1 so that`s the plan I want to go with,” he said. ANI