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Injured Aussie paceman Peter Siddle is battling to recover from back problems which may end his tour..
By Wayne Smith The Australian April 17, 2012 11:17AM
Injury concerns ... Aussie paceman battling to be fit for final Caribbean Test. Source: Andres Leighton / AP
Pace bowling spearhead Peter Siddle is battling to recover from a back problem and may not play again on the Caribbean tour.
Following the selectors' decision to leave him and Barbados Test man-of-the-match Ryan Harris out of the second Test, it emerged yesterday that Siddle is racing against time to be fit for the final Test of the series, in Dominica.
Vice-captain Shane Watson revealed that Siddle had been sent for scans when his back began to cause him pain during the Test in Bridgetown and that some swelling had been detected.
"The one thing you don't want to do is continue to push through it," Watson said.
"Sometimes as a bowler if you do that it can put you back a fair way with stress fractures.
"Fingers crossed that won't be the case and a few days' rest will mean that he's able to be right for the third Test."
That stress fractures are even being contemplated is alarming.
Siddle is Australia's highest-ranked bowler and has toiled wholeheartedly through the summer, never shirking the task no matter how daunting the opposing batting line-up.
There was a feeling of change in the air at Queen's Park Oval. Siddle's omission from the second Test XI was explained by injury but there was no other plausible explanation for Harris's non-selection than the fact he has been rotated out of the side.
Although Harris has had more than his share of injuries recently, he is not injured now, and although he batted for far longer than he is accustomed at Kensington Oval, he bowled fewer overs than any of the three front-line pacemen.
What's more, he is demonstrably in the best form of his life.
It isn't possible to fabricate a scenario that any other paceman deserves to be selected ahead of him, and yet Harris finds himself keeping Siddle company on the sidelines while Ben Hilfenhaus soldiers on with James Pattinson.
Given that the selectors opted for a twin spin attack, bringing in left-arm spinner Michael Beer to join forces with Nathan Lyon, it made sense to have the fresh legs of Pattinson, who has not played a Test since injuring his foot over the New Year Test in what is an essentially two-man pace attack supplemented by Watson.
"There was no doubt with the history for Ryan but also the amount that he batted and bowled throughout that (Barbados) game, the selectors must have thought it was good to bring a fresh James Pattinson in," Watson said.
"To make sure that Ryan is absolutely fresh and ready to go for the third Test is going to be very important."
Without ever using the R-word, Watson effectively confirmed that Ryan's resting would be just the first instance of it.
"I think personally it's a really big step forward in managing players' workloads when we are playing so much and playing back-to-back Tests consistently as well," Watson said.
He was a bit harshly criticised on here I thought after his debut where I thought he didn't bowl badly. Certainly not as bad as his figures show. He's obviously not your long term answer but he won't let you guys down when picked.
It was more the ridiculousness of seeing Pietersons weakness against left arm spin in the 'A' game, where O'keefe bowled very well and took wickets, and so they picked Xavier Doherty first, who averaged 100, then they picked Beer, who averaged in the 40's and had never played at the SCG, whilst they had a spinner there who had a first class average in the mid 20's.
cricinfo said:
