Australian pacer Peter Siddle has revealed that he is targeting to recover in time to be part of Australian summer later this year.
The 33-year old is facing one of the toughest moments in his life at the moment as he is stuck by a series of injuries and the talented veteran bowler has decided to give away the ongoing 2016-17 season.
“I’ve been pretty positive,” Siddle told cricket.com.au this week having made the decision to officially throw a frustrating 2016-17 season on the scrapheap.
“I’m good like that, nothing really gets to me. I guess the years of playing cricket, you always have little setbacks with injury and missing cricket at different stages. It makes it a little bit easier to take in when you get older.
“So I’ve been able to stay pretty level.
“It’s not so much the fact that I’m missing out on my teams winning (that’s frustrating), it’s the fact that I’m not playing.
“I don’t think I’ve played this little cricket in an 18-month window since I was an 11-year-old kid and was just starting out.
“That’s the most frustrating thing, not playing the game that you love and your profession.
“But mentally I’m pretty good. I’m in a good place and I’ve got some good people around me who give me good support.”
He has managed to play one five games in the previous one year and is keen to attain his full fitness before looking for a comeback into the national team. He was once again injured in early November last year and will now look to take some time off the game to give himself decent rest to heal his injuries completely before returning to cricket.
He is also confident of being picked into the national side once he is fully fit as he last played for Australia in the Perth test before suffering the injury.
“I’ve shown that when I’m at 100 per cent (fitness), I’m one of the first picked and my record speaks for itself,” he says with the confidence that stems from having 211 Test wickets to his name.
“So that stuff looks after itself and that’s what (this decision to rest) came down to. I need to get the body right because next summer is massive for Australian and state cricket.
“So it’s just a matter of being in a good position and fit and that’ll give me the best opportunity.
“Those challenges between the group of six or seven bowlers is only going to be good for Australian cricket.”
The 33-year-old has revealed that he has forced himself to play in the Perth test and it has resulted in another setback in his injury crisis as he will now remain on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
“You do think about it a bit, but I can’t really worry about it,” he says when asked if he’s reflected much about the ill-fated decision to play in Perth.
“Yes, it might have been too soon but I was feeling good up until pretty much once the game started.
“It’s a hard one. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have played but it’s very rare as a fast bowler that you’re feeling good.
“But the body was feeling good and it just came down to (the fact that) I hadn’t done the work. A couple of extra Shield games or at least one extra Shield game might have put me in a better position.
“But oh well. That’s part of the professional sport and I have to live with it.”