Peter Siddle

There was little to choose between these two teams in the lead-up to this eagerly anticipated Ashes series and hardly anything to split them at the end of an engrossing opening day at Cardiff

Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, has described fast bowler Peter Siddle as a "lock" to partner Mitchell Johnson in the first Ashes Test

Shane Warne has said the decision to leave out Michael Vaughan from the pre-Ashes camp was a blunder

Peter Siddle was the subject of crowd chants in South Africa and he doesn't expect the English fans to be any friendlier

Stats review of the Test series between South Africa and Australia

Peter Siddle believes the eight-day break between Tests will give him enough time to recover from his heavy workload in Durban

Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will be rested for Australia's limited-overs contests against South Africa

An emphatic series win in South Africa will imbue Australia with confidence that, after a harrowing six-month search, they have uncovered a crop of cricketers capable of competing with the world's best

South Africa have good memories of a Jacques batting throughout the final day of a Test to salvage a draw against Australia. Three years ago in Perth it was Jacques Rudolph, in Kingsmead this time, they are up against Jacques Kallis

The South African batsmen finally provided weary supporters with cause to cheer, but the likelihood of a world-record run-chase on a fifth day Kingsmead pitch remains slight

Steve Magoffin, the Western Australia fast bowler, will fly to South Africa as cover for Australia's struggling attack

It's no real surprise that fast bowling emerged as the key difference between Australia and South Africa at the Wanderers, where discipline is required to make the most of the seam- and swing-friendly conditions

If the third day at the Wanderers is anything to go by, Australia's pace attack's green tinge might not be such a bad thing

Victoria will have to wait to confirm their hosting rights for the FR Cup final after Tasmania knocked over the competition leaders

The uncapped trio of Phillip Hughes, Bryce McGain and Marcus North have been added to an already green Australian line-up for the three-Test tour of South Africa

Ryan Harris has been added to Australia's one-day squad and David Warner will travel with the team to the first match in Melbourne after the side was dealt two injury blows

For the second consecutive year Australia have pulled off a last-minute victory in the Sydney Test, this time despite a courageous and painful batting effort from the injured Graeme Smith

Mark Boucher has stirred memories of one of Australia's most famous collapses in the hope they will offer a repeat performance to keep South Africa in the third Test

Cracks have been forming all over the place during this series. For two Tests the brittleness was Australia's, but in Sydney the fault lines have been shaking South Africa