Peter Siddle slams Michael Bevan for enquiring about coaching role on Twitter
What's the story?
Australian fast bowler Peter Siddle has slammed World Cup-winning Australian batsman Michael Bevan for taking to Twitter to apply for the role of Australia's ODI batting. The fast bowler admitted that he was one of the best to have played for Australia and would be an outstanding addition but said it was a "little bit low" for him to just throw out a tweet.
Speaking to Fox Sports News, Peter Siddle said: "He's had 15 years to apply for a job with Cricket Australia and help out around the country and he hasn't. The boys want support, not those blokes that haven't been around and haven't been helping out at either State or international cricket just to throw out a tweet.
"It's a little bit low. I'd love to see him apply for a job with NSW or Victoria, start doing some work, not just throwing out a tweet when we're going bad, and when we're going well we don't hear from him. He was a brilliant player for Australia, one of the best. To have him around would be outstanding, but to just throw it out there after a bad loss is a bit disappointing."
In case you didn't know...
A couple of days after Australia's defeat in the second ODI, Bevan took to Twitter to post that he was willing to help out the Australian set-up as a ODI batting coach. It was an innocuous tweet to the Cricket Australia asking about where he should apply to be considered for the role of an ODI batting coach.
The heart of the matter
The timing of the Tweet certainly didn't help Bevan's case as it was on the back of Australia's defeat in the second ODI. The former Australian star isn't known for being especially active on social media and it was easy to see why Siddle was so angry with the decision to come out and tweet out of nowhere.
What's next?
Having lost 11 consecutive away ODIs, Australia could certainly do with some help, especially in their batting department. And it will be interesting to see if the management takes note of the former batsman's comments. On the field, their next assignment will be on Thursday when they take on India in the fourth ODI.
Author's take
While Michael Bevan's intentions might have been genuine, the way in which he has gone about letting the Australian set-up know certainly hasn't gone down well with Peter Siddle. While the former Australian fast bowler has every right to be angry, lashing out certainly isn't the right thing to do, especially when all the factors are taken into consideration.
As one of the greatest finishers that the game has ever seen, Bevan would certainly be a welcome addition to the Australian set-up, which is currently short on experience, especially in the middle-order.