Siddle joins Australia’s injury list, ruled out of 2nd Test

Australia paceman Peter Siddle has been ruled out of the second Test against South Africa in Hobart with a lower back injury, Cricket Australia said on Tuesday.

South Africa came into this series on an upturn of form beating New Zealand in a Test series as well as whitewashing Australia 5-0 in the recently concluded One Day International (ODI) series and it showed with the team looking confident from ball one of the Perth Test.

At a time when Australia’s batsmen are mired in a damaging pattern of failures, Joe Burns has returned to the Test fold with confidence derived from breaking out of his own.

Bellerive Oval has hosted 12 Tests, the last being Australia’s innings and 212 runs demolition of the West Indies past year.

“We will have to see who replaces Steyn but Rabada will be the key, how we handle him”, he said.

“I can go back so many Test matches – the last series in Australia, they dominated us in the first and second Test matches”.

“I guess it will depend over the next 24 hours and what the wicket looks like and the forecast looks like”, Smith said.

Both teams are nursing some exhausted bowlers, with Australia’s Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Siddle and Mitchell Marsh all “pretty sore”.

Despite impressing hugely in both disciplines and providing Du Plessis with the control he requires from his spinner, the 26-year-old was seen bowling in the indoor nets on Friday morning instead of in the main outdoor session. I think it was exactly split down the middle 50-50 in terms of reverse.

This time, Australia must overcome not only South Africa but also the Hobart weather, with rain expected over at least the first couple of days.

Smith also confirmed the availability of Adam Voges who suffered soreness in his left hamstring in the Perth Test, which meant that the addition of another batsman would have to come at the expense of a bowler.

Steve Smith had enjoyed a dream run as captain since his full-time appointment in late 2015 but has been feeling the pressure of late.

Australia’s new-ball attack of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood looked a little underdone in Perth after recent spells out of the game and were forced to bowl a total of 103.4 overs between them in Perth. “I thought he batted quite well and was a bit unlucky with the decision, but that is part of the game as well”.

“We need to find a way to make sure we really nail a team when we get on top of them”, he said.

Smith had short-lived support from wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, who made 3 from 25 balls before falling lbw to Kagiso Rabada, hero of South Africa’s 177-run win in the first test at Perth.

“I’m a fan of Mitch Marsh, I think he’s got a lot of talent but maybe the best thing for him is to go back to Shield cricket and make five hundreds in a row. and say “pick me”, Warne said.