Siddle blames schedule for Oz injury woes

Asserting that the Australians would win the ongoing seven-ODI series in India, fast bowler Peter Siddle has blamed an excessive workload for the spate of injuries which have plagued the world champions in recent times. The Australians are coping with injuries to several key players which has forced pace sphearhead Brett Lee, all-rounder James Hopes, Tim Paine and Henriques Moises to return home from India.

Vice-captain Michael Clarke, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, paceman Nathan Bracken and young batsman Callum Ferguson could not be considered for the tour due to injuries.

The world champions have been left with a depleted squad of just 13 fit players and Siddle, who was himself injured during the fourth match in Mohali, blamed the tiring schedule which has seen the team more than five months on the road.

''It has been a long tour, I guess, and the guys have been away for a long time now and we've probably played a bit too much cricket but we will see how we go and I am sure the boys will go well in the next three matches and come home with a (series) win,'' Siddle told reporters after arriving at Melbourne airport this morning. But the 24-year-old right-armer was confident of returning to action in time for the home series against the West Indies later this month.

''I did pull up a bit sore but I'm sure there's no other problems there and I will rest up over the next couple of weeks and prepare for the first Test,'' Siddle said. ''There's no worries at all, just a bit of soreness, and the selectors and coaches thought it was the best thing to stay off for the rest of the game and come home and take it easy. ''It's nothing bad. I just pulled up a little bit tight, with a bit of soreness, from the last match and they decided the best thing with the first Test coming up was just to come home and rest up and make sure I am 100 per cent fit and ready to go for that,'' he added.

-- (UNI) -- 05SPD9.xml

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