'I'm an aggressive sort of player'

Peter Siddle usually confronts opponents with a sideways glance, a snarl and spitting fire. In the summer of 2009 he blazed across cricket pitches in South Africa, never shy to tell batsmen what he thought, to stare bowlers down as they bounced him and to charge around the outfield. He was cocky and proud of it.

Eventually, his puffed-out chest and swagger caused the Johannesburg crowd to script a song for Siddle. The lyrics were not complimentary but the locals believed they described his personality. They might have to change their tune now because a more demure Siddle has reached South African shores, a far cry from the man they once sang about.

A stress fracture of the back, nine months out of the national side and the emergence of young fast bowlers have turned the Siddle South Africa knew into a simpler person. He arrived with Australia's other Test players ahead of the ODI in Durban last week, but made his first public appearance in the peaceful town of Potchefstroom, where Australia will play a four-day tour match against South Africa A.

Siddle acknowledged he would have to tussle with the two new boys, Trent Copeland and Pat Cummins, for a place in the starting XI in the first Test. As the man in possession, however, Siddle is hoping the selectors will look his way in Cape Town next week. "That's usually the case," he said, when asked if he saw the spot as his. "With everyone as an individual, they want to think they're in there and they want to perform hard enough to keep that spot. That's my goal."

Siddle talked up his competition, Cummins, who has earned the praise of almost everyone in the Australian side. "I got the opportunity to play against him last year in a T20 for Victoria against New South Wales," Siddle said. "Just his pace and his composure out in the middle [was impressive]. He was very relaxed for a bloke of his age."

Siddle is aware that Cummins is in line for a Test cap and joked that, "hopefully I can hold him off for a little bit longer and keep my spot in the side." He also acknowledged that the emergence of Cummins, James Pattinson and Copeland "benefits Australian cricket," because it keeps the talent pool swirling. "It's a good thing that we are all fit and firing and bowling well and putting the pressure on each other, which makes us better as individuals."

With Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris almost certain to play the first Test, Siddle said he had to bring something different to the attack - his attitude. "I'm an aggressive sort of player, I like to go hard at it and put the pressure on the batsmen," he said. "I just need to get that one or two wickets to get me going and then I'm on a roll. When I get a couple, I get fired up and I just feel at my best.

"I'm feeling good, that's how it is. You want your body to be feeling good, you want to be happy with what you are doing."

Siddle said he felt more confident after making his comeback, which was, like most things about him, emphatic. In the third Test in Colombo in September, Siddle was Australia's highest wicket-taker, and his four wickets included that of Kumar Sangakkara. "[There are] a few things I have been working on like getting it a bit fuller and a bit of swing, which showed over in Sri Lanka," he said.

Conditions in Sri Lanka are nothing like those in South Africa but Siddle said the squad was better after that series, which Australia won 1-0. " It's knowing that you can go out there and perform together as a side and do things in partnerships, whether it's with the bat or the ball," he said. "I think that's what we showed over there when we did that well, we were miles ahead. That's our plan out here, to bowl in partnerships, whoever that might be, seamers or spinners."