Throughout his time playing for Australia, Siddle enthralled audiences with his hostile bowling and ability to generate unsettling bounce from the wicket. Finishing his career with 221 Test wickets, only 12 Australians have taken more Test wickets than Siddle.

Over the years since his debut in Mohali, Siddle has entertained spectators with a number of fantastic spells. Here are five of Siddle’s most memorable Test performances:

6-54 v England, Brisbane, 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdlAvc7Z7hc

No Peter Siddle appreciation post is complete without a mention of his most memorable performance – a birthday hat-trick against England in the 2010-11 Ashes. 

England, who had elected to bat first, were 197-4 with the formidable duo of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell at the crease.

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Earlier in the innings, Siddle had dismissed Keven Pietersen and Paul Collingwood in back-to-back overs. Later in the day, brought on for his third spell when all other bowlers had worked in vain to break the Cook-Bell stand, Siddle had Cook caught in the slip, inducing a thick edge, he then foxed Matt Prior with a straighter delivery that snuck through and crashed into middle stump and followed it up with a yorker that struck Stuart Broad on the toe.

It was Peter Siddle’s 26th birthday and he had just become the first bowler to take a Test hat-trick on the occasion.

5-49 v India, Adelaide, 2012

On a good batting wicket, Australia already posted a mammoth total of 604-7 in their first innings. With the series already in the bag and Australia aiming for a whitewash, Siddle obliged with a brilliant spell of fast bowling.

Great player, great bloke, great mate, great @NMFCOfficial fan, always first player picked in my team. Congrats @petersiddle403 pic.twitter.com/K67Juesloo

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) December 29, 2019

He first dismissed Virender Sehwag with an exceptional one-handed return catch off a leading edge that looped back to his right but it was in his second spell that he nabbed the biggest wicket of them all. Luring Sachin Tendulkar forward with a fuller ball, Tendulkar could only edge it to Ricky Ponting at second slip. Two overs later, it was Gautam Gambhir’s turn to depart: a bouncer that was awkwardly fended to gully and just like that India had slipped to 87-4. 

His next two wickets came late in India’s innings, Ravi Ashwin and Zaheer Khan in back-to-back deliveries, thereby completing his fifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket

5-54 and 4-50 v Sri Lanka, Hobart, 2012

In both innings, Siddle was the pick of the bowlers, not only taking wickets but dismissing key players and crippling the Lankan scoring rate, too.

Two victims of his five victims in the first innings were key middle-order linchpins Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews. He was more lethal in the second innings, though, pairing up with Mitchell Starc to bamboozle the Sri Lankan batsmen. All four of his wickets were high profile. Mahela Jayawardene fell to a straightening delivery, ending a flourishing third-wicket stand between him and Sangakkara. He dismissed Sangakkara for the second time in the match as he fell to one that kept low and crashed into his pads for 63.

The match haul of 9-104 was Siddle’s career best performance and third-best for an Australian bowler against Sri Lanka.

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5-50 v England, Nottingham, 2013

The first Ashes Test that England ended up winning by a 14-run margin began as a Siddle masterpiece when the hosts were bowled out for 215 in the first innings. Barring the wickets of Cook and Bairstow, Siddle ran through the entire English core with ruthless bowling. He announced himself with a well-aimed yorker on Joe Root’s off-stump, shaped one away from Pietersen who edged it in the slips, bowled Jonathan Trott, catching his inside edge, foxed Bell like he did Pietersen and finally accounted for Matt Prior to get his fifth wicket when the batsman pounced on a short and wide ball and sent it straight to Phil Hughes at point.

2-130 and 4-65 v South Africa, Adelaide, 2012

There is no better example of Siddle’s tireless spirit. Bowling a total of 63.5 overs after James Pattinson broke down, taking on majority of the workload but not complaining, Siddle barely dropping in pace. While he couldn’t quite force through a victory for Australia, his 4-65 over one and a half days very nearly got his team over the line.

“That was one of the greatest performances of the past 30 years,” said Rodney Hogg said after the Test. “I don’t think we have given Peter Siddle enough credit for what he did.”