Western Australia 'didn't have a crack' - Siddle

Peter Siddle has let out his frustration following his first match as captain of Victoria, annoyed that his team was the only side playing for the win in their match with Western Australia at the MCG. The Bushrangers set the Warriors 390 for victory late on the third day and while Victoria fell two wickets short of a win, Western Australia were still 108 runs short when stumps was called.

Western Australia opener Will Bosisto scored his maiden first-class century and finished with 108 from 288 deliveries, and the Warriors scored at just 2.66 per over. It was Siddle's first game in charge of any team at first-class, List A or T20 level, having stepped into the captaincy after Matthew Wade broke his collarbone shortly before the match started.

"We were always going to bowl all day. They didn't have a crack at all for four days," Siddle told reporters after the match. "It was up to us to run the game the whole match. We gave them a couple of generous declarations. We gave them plenty of opportunities and they didn't take any of them.

"When you've played four hard days of cricket and you're the only team playing out there, it does make it hard. You come here to play against an opposition and you're pretty much playing a match by yourself out there. That's the disappointing thing."

Victoria's push for victory on the final day included some interesting field placements: at one stage Siddle set two catchers in helmets in short slips positions when James Pattinson was bowling. But his push for wickets was stifled by the Western Australia batsmen, and the Warriors coach Justin Langer defended his team's approach to the final day's play.

"It's none of Sids' business how we play our cricket, as it's none of our business how they play their cricket," Langer said. "We had to fight hard. We've got kids ... it's pretty rich for him to carry on about how we play our cricket. They have got an incredibly senior team, an international team. He'll probably be a bit stroppy because they didn't get the points against a very young WA team."