Vegan diet didn't bite Peter Siddle

Peter Siddle knows why his pace dropped during the tour of South Africa earlier this year – and he says it's got nothing to do with his highly-publicised vegan diet.

A mainstay of Australia's attack during back-to-back Ashes campaigns, Siddle was dropped for the third Test against the Proteas in March after his flagging pace became too much of an issue for coach Darren Lehmann.

While some critics blamed Siddle's eating habits for his inability to push the speed gun past 140kph, the man himself is in no doubt as to why he wasn't at his fiery best.

"It's just the fatigue, it gets everyone," said Siddle, who missed just one of Australia's 21 Tests between November 2012 and his axing this year.

"When you're playing you can't get in a lot of gym sessions, you can't do the things that freshen up the body and build the body up to full strength.

"You never play many games of Test cricket at 100 per cent, but you try and stay as close as you can to that 100 per cent.

"I think it was two-and-a-half years since my last pre-season so it does take its toll. You're backing up, you're travelling ... so it does make it hard to do the training away from cricket."

Quick Single: Siddle to reunite with his bunny KP

Back in Australia having cut short his time with English county side Nottinghamshire, Siddle is confident a much-needed break from the game will help him regain both his speed and his place in Australia's Test side.

Despite squeezing 11 first-class matches into his 12-week stint in England, Siddle was able to hit the gym and work on regaining the strength that had slowly wasted away during a hectic schedule that saw him play 10 consecutive Ashes Tests and two against the Proteas.

While Siddle is probably the first vegan fast-bowler to be worn down by the grind of international cricket, he points out that his meat-eating contemporaries have often struggled to cope as well. 

"Everyone says 'it's the diet'. You could probably go through 150 Test cricketers who have slowed down in pace because they've played a lot of cricket," he said.

"Kemar Roach isn't bowling as fast as he used to, is he still eating meat? It's a bit ridiculous.

"Stuart Broad and James Anderson aren't bowling as quick as they used to bowl.

"It all comes down to (the fact that) there's a lot of cricket played and you put everything you can out on the field when you do it.

"And I think when you're backing up it does make it hard to keep that up."

Another player who has felt the strain of cricket's seemingly endless cycle is Siddle's teammate Mitchell Johnson, who burst back onto the international scene last year after a long spell away from the game.

Johnson missed just one Test out of the 47 Australia played between his debut in 2007 and November 2011, before poor form and a serious toe injury saw him ruled out of cricket for almost 12 months.  

Siddle remembers seeing Johnson "slowly fading away" during that time, and says the way his moustachioed teammate bounced back last summer has given him the confidence that he can do the same.

Quick Single: Siddle not sad to see the back of KP

"Mitchell Johnson had three-and-a-half years of non-stop cricket ... now he's bowling as fast as he's ever bowled," Siddle said.

"Everyone's seen the way he's come back, how positive he is, how relaxed he is and how fresh he is (and up) for the new challenge.

"Just watching him go about it, he's one of my good mates and I've played a lot of cricket with him so you can get inspired by little things like that and he's a great example."

Having relished a chance to get back into the gym, Siddle has already put on 2.5kg of muscle since South Africa and says he has already felt the benefit of his stronger frame, taking 37 wickets at an average of 31.48 for Notts.

While he burst onto the scene as a tearaway quick capable of nudging the 150kph mark, Siddle concedes that his days of bowling express pace are probably over.

But with Australia's fast-bowling stocks bursting with genuinely fast men, Siddle has grown accustomed to taking a back seat.

"When you've got Mitchell Johnson bowling 155 and Ryno (Ryan Harris) bowling 140s, my role was to control the innings," Siddle said, reflecting on Australia's Ashes whitewash last summer.

"I had to control the economy rate, hold up an end, break partnerships and bowl the long spells.

"If I'm only bowling four over spells I can bowl faster. It's a catch-22 with how the side sets up (and) how the coach and captain want to go about it.

"With changes to my action to bowl out-swingers and all the different variations and my consistency, I don't want to lose that because that's what's got me the wickets in the last few years.

"I think KP (Kevin Pietersen) is the ideal (example). I didn't do anything fancy, but I built pressure against one of the best players in world cricket at the time and I continually got him out. I don't want to lose that skill.

"It's about getting strong and bowling as well as I can. If I get back to high 130s, 140 – I think that's where I'm at. I don't think I'll ever be bowling 150s again, I think that's done and gone."