Champion Australia and Victoria fast bowler reflects on being able to retire from domestic cricket still at the top of his game
Ball in hand, Peter Siddle knows he could keep going.
Wickets wise, the evergreen right-armer is fresh off his best Sheffield Shield campaign since the season he retired from Test cricket, as well as his most productive Australian summer across all formats in three years.
Add in a maiden one-day five-wicket haul last October and pushing the speed gun to 148kph during last summer's Big Bash, there is no question Siddle is still at the top of his game.
But there is life after cricket to consider too, and Siddle – an avid cyclist – has grand plans.
Not long after taking a wicket with his final ball in first-class cricket to seal a season-ending victory for his beloved Victoria, the veteran paceman was on his bike tackling the legendary Roubaix cobblestones northern France.
"It was nice to be able to go when I wanted to," Siddle told cricket.com.au of his decision to hang up the bowling boots in first-class cricket after almost 20 years at the top level.
"More than anything, just being able to finish up like I have while still being fit is something that I hold very close to me.
"I've got a lot of things that I want to do; I want to ride my bike and enjoy that side of things so the body being healthy is something that I appreciate a lot."
Not many fast bowlers have made it to 40 years old still at the peak of their powers; Siddle, who turned 40 last November, and England's James Anderson, 42, being the notable modern-day exceptions.
And like Anderson, who is currently nursing a calf injury but has signed to play on with Lancashire in this year's County Championship and T20 Blast, Siddle will also continue next summer after signing a one-year deal with Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
But content with achieving everything he could have dreamed of over the past two decades, Siddle knocked back approaches from both Victoria's coach Chris Rogers and captain Will Sutherland who tried to convince him to play on into a 21st season in state cricket.
"The body is fine, and I still love bowling, that's the good thing," said Siddle.
"But the time in the field, I'm done with that. I've had enough time standing out in cricket fields for long days and sessions, that's grown old.
"So I'm glad that side of it's over, that's for sure."
In his 20 years of professional cricket, Siddle's career has transcended generations of players, so much so that Victoria's debutant in his final first-class game, 18-year-old Ollie Peake, wasn't even born when he made his own debut in late 2005.
Having risen through the Victorian age-group sides in the early 2000s, the Traralgon-born quick earned his one-day bow in October 2005, which was followed by his Victorian baggy blue cap in a tour match less than a month later against a formidable West Indian batting line-up featuring Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Siddle celebrates his first Test wicket on debut in Mohali, 2008 // Getty
A then 20-year-old Siddle held his own, picking up the wicket of opener Devon Smith. Within two years, the curly-haired tearaway was a mainstay of Victoria's Sheffield Shield side with his 33-wicket 2007-08 season catapulting him onto the global stage with a Test debut against India in Mohali the following October, where his first international wicket the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Across the next decade-and-a-bit before retiring from international cricket in December 2019, Siddle played 67 Tests for 221 wickets (15th most for Australia), 20 ODIs and a pair of T20 internationals, and was part of an Ashes series win (2013-14) and Australia's 2009 Champions Trophy triumph. With two Sheffield Shields as well (2014-15 and 2018-19), Siddle says he finishes up with Victoria fulfilled.
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