SIDDLE BATS FOR ENGLAND

Pace ace Peter backs Stokes' call to skip Canberra warm-up

- BY RORY DOLLARD

ENGLAND'S controversial preparations for next week's day-night Ashes Test have received support from an unexpected source - former Aussie seamer Peter Siddle.

The tourists have passed up the opportunity to send any of captain Ben Stokes’ first-choice Test team to face a Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, spurning a chance to get accustomed to floodlit cricket and the pink ball.

That decision has attracted plenty of criticism, but the man who will be fronting up the home attack can see the logic.

Siddle, who turned 41 yesterday, will be trying to rekindle his glory years by taking English wickets at Manuka Oval, but he believes gentler pitches in the capital would not be the perfect preparation for the pacier tracks awaiting in Queensland.