Siddle wary of new coach effect for England

Kevin Pietersen is confirmed as a no-show for this winter's Ashes, but it is not the batsman that has piqued the Australian players' interest in the ongoing upheaval in English cricket.

While Pietersen is attracting all the headlines, the replacement for sacked coach Peter Moores is undoubtedly going to have more of an impact on England this winter.

The impact a change of coach can have will not be lost on the Australians given their own stark reversal of fortunes following the appointment of Darren Lehmann just days out from the 2013 Ashes series.

That was acknowledged by Peter Siddle, who spoke about the current travails of the England team after a day in the field for Lancashire.

"The way we turned things around in such a short time, it does make you a little bit wary that their boys will be on when we get out here," Siddle said of England's potential to be rejuvenated by a new coach.

The England and Wales Cricket Board's newly appointed director of cricket Andrew Strauss will certainly be hoping his "boys will be on" when the Australians arrive. Strauss last night confirmed he will approach Jason Gillespie, the former Australian Test fast-bowling star and current Yorkshire coach, about the England vacancy.

Whoever the new coach is, he won't be permitted to select Pietersen in his playing squad after Strauss pointed to "trust issues" between him and England's highest Test-run scorer and 104-Test veteran that saw him ruled out of England's home Test series against New Zealand and Australia.

Ryan Harris said he couldn't quite believe it, while Peter Siddle likened Pietersen's impact to that of Shane Warne for Australia.

"There has never really been a player like him before, it is like to find someone to replace Shane Warne," Siddle told the Manchester Evening News.

"You can have the second-best spinner in the world, and you still won't come close. The confidence and aggression they have, you can never replace them.

"They don't grow on trees these types of players.

"You have to be patient with what you have around you, and have some faith, that's what we have shown and it works."

Siddle has taken Pietersen's wicket 10 times in Test cricket, more than any other bowler.

Siddle strikes to remove KP in the 2013-14 Ashes

"A bloke that averages 50 in Test cricket, I'm happy to have him out of the side and get someone else in who averages less," Siddle said.

"I'm quite happy to have him out of the side."

Fellow Australia quick Ryan Harris said he was refusing to believe England wouldn't return to Pietersen this winter.

"I'm not going to believe it until we get over there and they pick their squad," Harris told cricket.com.au this week.

"He's just peeled off a triple-hundred. Although it has been said by the new cricket director, I'm not going to believe it until we play five Tests and Kevin Pietersen doesn't play.

"He's a bloody good player and one of the hardest to bowl to, I find," Harris added.

"In saying that, when you play sides like England you want the best players playing – especially when we beat them, you want to beat the best team."

Glenn Maxwell took to twitter to speak out in support of his Melbourne Stars teammate Pietersen, who will head to India on Friday to take up his IPL contract with the David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Pietersen wrote in his autobiography about his struggles with Siddle's 'robotic' and 'suffocating' tactics.

"Give me a war with Mitchell Johnson or More Morkel any day of the week," Pietersen wrote. "Siddle bowls with the patience of a robot. Just very tight lines.

"I dig in and tell myself that, ok, this will be ugly but I'll get through it. It takes so long to build the (runs), though. He never seems to gamble, he's never bowling for the jackpot.

"The longer it goes on the more shots I try to make. Maybe if I start to hit a few big numbers they will take him away?

"Then the valve pops: I see a ball and have to try something. The next thing I know, I'm taking a walk.

"Time after time he does me. I know what he is going to do. He does it. Suffocates me."

Siddle said he owes his success to 'boring' Pietersen and playing to his ego.

"I just bored him. It is the most boring way I've bowled to any player," he said last year.

"I knew where he wanted to score and knew how he would do it, so I tried boring him as much as I could and had a lot of success doing it."