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Durham has signed Peter Siddle for the next six County Championship matches after fellow Australian seamer Scott Boland was ruled out due to a foot injury.
Boland had originally signed the contract till the end of July that would have included his participation in Durham's T20 Blast tournament. However, his foot injury led him to arrive too late for their first Division One match against Hampshire, which was rained out for all four days, and it ended up getting worse by 13 wicketless overs against Warwickshire. Boland therefore missed the last match against Worcestershire, which Durham won within three days. Scans revealed that the 35-year-old will now require "significant recovery and rehabilitation," as stated by the county. Cricket Australia had pushed Boland to play as much cricket as possible this English season to build up his fitness ahead of their next Test series against India, which begins on November 22. Boland has not played a Test match since the last of his ten matches during the Ashes last summer. Given that Boland is not part of their T20 World Cup preparations, he has plenty of time to recover from this latest setback. CA, as a centrally contracted player, will now oversee his recovery. Durham's Director of Cricket, Marcus North, has moved rapidly to secure Siddle as a substitute. The 39-year-old has previous county cricket experience with Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Essex, and, most recently, Somerset. He has 189 wickets at an average of 22.98 across all four clubs, including 16 at 24.12 for Taunton last season. "It was important we acted quickly to replace Scott Boland and we have done that with the addition of Peter Siddle for the County Championship," North said in a statement released on Monday as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. "It is very disappointing to lose Scott after just one game and we wish him all the best in his recovery. We look forward to welcoming Pete to Durham and watching him play a key part in our success on the field in the coming weeks," North added. (ANI)
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