Australia's fast-bowling spearhead Peter Siddle says an ever-changing Test pace attack will not hurt the team's ability to bowl as a unit.
After changing the entire three-man pace attack from the second to third Tests against South Africa, then making two more changes for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart, Australia are set for another reshuffle for Boxing Day at the MCG.
With Ben Hilfenhaus already ruled out, left-armer Mitchell Starc, who took five second-innings wickets in Hobart, is reportedly set for a spell.
That would open the way for Mitchell Johnson to return and Jackson Bird to make his Test debut against Sri Lanka and become the seventh quick used in four Tests.
Siddle, the only paceman locked in for a second Test start, scoffed at reports that Starc had already been earmarked for a rest before the team even trains together for the first time at the MCG on Sunday.
But the Victorian said constant changes would not hurt the attack's teamwork.
"Not at all," Siddle told reporters at the MCG on Saturday.
"That's probably been the big thing that we've done well in especially the past 18 months.
"Whoever's come into the squad they've known what they had to do.
"The guys that have come in in that time have shown that they can execute their skills and work with the rest of the players in the squad to maintain that pressure.
"That's what the success that we've had in that time has come down to.
"The squad has changed a lot with the bowlers, but we've stuck together, we've worked well as a team."
Siddle backed the rotation policy, saying while every player would love to play every Test, it was not always possible, such as when he sat out the series-deciding Perth loss to South Africa after a lion-hearted bowling effort in Adelaide.
"I made the right decision," he said.
"I knew that if I had have been selfish and gone out there and got injured that I would have put a lot of pressure on the rest of the side.
"After what we had in Adelaide (with James Pattinson getting injured) I didn't want to do that so I made the right decision."
Siddle said Bird was beautifully suited to the MCG, where he has taken 14 wickets at 12.07 in two Sheffield Shield games.
"It's a very patient ground," the Victorian said.
"Our gameplan works beautifully here.
"I guess I've had my success a similar way to him - you bowl nagging lengths and be patient, you bowl tight lines - that's sort of been the go-to here for us.
"He's a very similar type to those sort of styles."
Tags: sport, cricket, melbourne-3000, vic, australia First posted December 22, 2012 16:43:03