Endeavour Hills resident Peter Siddle, right, and Narre Warren South’s Darren Pattinson celebrated after Dandenong’s grand final win in 2007 and both are now Test cricketers. By Paul Pickering
ENDEAVOUR Hills cricketer Peter Siddle last week became the 403rd Australian to wear the baggy green cap.
The 23-year-old Dandenong Panthers paceman received a late call-up for the second Test in India after frontline seamer Stuart Clark withdrew with an elbow injury.
Siddle’s debut last Friday capped an extraordinary four months for the Dandenong Cricket Club, with Darren Pattinson – a Narre Warren South resident – and Cameron White also joining the Test ranks after beginning their district careers at Shepley Oval.
First Pattinson made his improbable rise to the English Test team in July, then White’s call-up to join the Aussies in Bangalore came a fortnight ago and now Siddle has his chance.
Panthers coach Warren Ayres has played alongside all of them and said it was a proud time for the club and the region.
“I was just saying to Darren (Pattinson) the other day that it seems funny to put the TV on to watch the Australian team and see Whitey and Siddle playing,” he said this week.
“But it’s great for those guys and fantastic to watch.”
Siddle made his debut in the ones at Dandenong as a 17-year-old and Ayres remembers it well.
“He was a little fat kid from Morwell who had a great attitude,” he said.
Ayres reckons it’s that same attitude that has seen Siddle overcome a series of injuries – including two shoulder reconstructions in the past two years – enroute to securing a Test berth.
In fact, it was Siddle’s toughness – rather than sheer talent – that first made a believer out of Ayres.
“If there was one moment that sticks in my mind, it’s when we won the grand final against St Kilda (in 2006-07),” Ayres recalled.
“He played that game with extreme injuries to his foot, but he kept running in and running in. He bowled like the wind and scared the hell out of them.”
Siddle’s persistence on a banal Mohali pitch was among few positives for Australians in the second Test, as the tourists were dealt their heftiest Test defeat in almost a decade.
The bustling quickie finished with match figures of 4/176 – the best of the Aussie bowlers.
His most memorable moment came late on the first day when he drew an edge from master batsman Sachin Tendulkar – on 88 at the time – to register his first Test wicket.
Clark is a chance to return for the third Test but most pundits believe there will be plenty of chances ahead for Siddle.
Ayres is one of them.
“It’s been a tough road for him and he’s had some setbacks but he’s stayed positive and worked his way up, so I think he deserves a good go at it,” he said.
“I’m sure he’ll go on to have a really good career.”
