Siddle, Voges in fine county form

Peter Siddle and Adam Voges will arrive in the West Indies in fine form after impressing in their county cricket cameos ahead of Australia’s Test tours of the Caribbean and the British Isles.

Both Siddle and Voges have been playing on English soil since early last month but are now set to join the remainder of the Australia squad in the West Indies ahead of a warm-up match in Antigua on May 27. 

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In four county championship matches for Division Two team Lancashire, Siddle made a fine start to the English season taking 18 wickets at 20.56.

The veteran paceman’s best performance was 4-36 against Gloucestershire, a match which also saw him snare 3-55 in the first innings and score 40.

He impressed against Kent, taking 3-36 in 20 overs to help Lancashire to a nine-wicket victory, while Siddle was also in decent touch with the bat, scoring 89 against Northamptonshire to finish his stint with 204 runs at 34.

He will be replaced at Lancashire by James Faulkner once the allrounder has fulfilled his IPL commitments with Rajasthan Royals.

Voges also made four county appearances, finding success both with the bat and as skipper of Middlesex.

He left the side in an enviable position at the top of the Division One table and carried on his excellent form from the 2014-15 summer, which saw him named Bupa Sheffield Shield player of the year after scoring 1358 runs at an average of 104.46.

Voges amassed 451 runs for Middlesex at 56.38, including a match-winning century alongside knocks of 98, 72 and 57.

Late last month, he helped Middlesex pull off a record win against Somerset, scoring 132 to steer his team to an unlikely victory target of 402.

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The batsman will now be replaced at Middlesex by fellow Australian Joe Burns, who made his debut appearance for the county on Friday night, scoring five off nine balls in a T20 Blast match against Gloucestershire.

“You can look at the results so far this year and see the boys are playing really well,” Burns told Middlesex Cricket.

“I guess that’s the challenge now, to maintain that for the rest of the season.

“But with the drive of the group and the experience of the group, combined with some great young players, it’s really exciting.”