Peter Siddle is being painted as the next Merv Hughes in some sections of England and there is a thirst like Big Merv’s in his playing days for details on the latest Victorian fast bowler. Siddle isn’t playing in Worcester and is resting before the first Test, so he was on Sky at tea speaking about his childhood hobby of woodchopping.

“There’s not much to it,” he said. “It’s a little sport in country Australia. With an axe, you stand on top of a bit of wood and the first one through wins.”

He was a good axeman as a child but did it only for a couple of years, thinking more of his safety than the prize ribbons. “It was part of the reason I wanted to get rid of it,” he said. “If I wanted to play sport in the future I thought I should probably give it up. I’d need all my body parts.”

Since then his main problem has been a series of serious shoulder injuries, but they haven’t stopped him from growing into one of the side’s main men. Expect him to cut through a few batsmen in Cardiff.