Siddle to continue endless summer

Despite being fresh off the most strenuous Australian summer of his career, Peter Siddle says his body is ready to handle a short stint in English county cricket this month as he looks to position himself for a Test recall.

After a two-year period where he was dogged by serious injury, Siddle played 25 out of a possible 27 games for Victoria and Adelaide Strikers this season, the most cricket he's played in a single summer since his debut 12 years ago.

Despite his heavy workload, the 33-year-old says he's excited about his five-game stint with defending county champions Essex that he hopes will add to his strong record in English conditions ahead of Australia's 2019 Ashes tour.

"It's going to be very cold, which I don't like that much, but hopefully the wickets are nice and green and bowler friendly early on and I can get a few wickets," Siddle told RSN radio this week.

"And I just (want to) continue playing some good cricket and feeling good. That's why I wanted to go over there; to play some more games, get the body through a little bit more hard work before I do rest the body up and get ready for next year.

"I'm looking forward to it, England is good fun and hopefully we can have some success in the short time I'm there."

Siddle has been understandably thrilled with his workload this summer having played just seven games of cricket in 21 months between the start of 2016 and October last year due to a serious back problem.

Not only did he stay on the park in 2017-18 but he thrived, playing a key role in Adelaide's KFC BBL title-winning campaign and finishing the Shield season with 19 wickets in five games following the mid-season break.

"The body is a little bit tired, it was obviously a long season for me," he said.

"I worked out it was the most cricket I ever played in an Australian summer. Coming off the injury last year I was very pleased that I could get through so much cricket.

"I'm only getting older which means I've got to work harder to make sure I stay on the park, stay fresh and try and stay ahead of all these young guys.

Speaking to cricket.com.au in February, Siddle said he was still hopeful of playing Test cricket again despite the likes of Pat Cummins, Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers jumping ahead of him in Test calculations over the summer.

The right-armer believes his vast experience with the Dukes ball in England, which includes more than 100 wickets for two different county sides as well as three Ashes campaigns, could make him a crucial element in Australia's push to win the urn abroad for the first time since 2001.

"You've just got to take a look at the teams that have done well over there and they're not the teams that bowl fast," he said.

"I think our thinking over previous tours probably hasn't been in the right direction. There's a reason why (Stuart) Broad and (Jimmy) Anderson have unbelievable records in England, and they don't bowl fast. They're a perfect example.

"I sort of see myself as similar to those guys. I can play my role and I think my record over there speaks for itself. The conditions that get rolled out over there suit me.

"I've had a lot of success over there and I've spent plenty of time over there."

Essex's first game of their County Championship defence starts against Yorkshire on Friday.