Durham have signed Peter Siddle for their next six County Championship matches after fellow Australian seamer Scott Boland was ruled out of his stint at the club with plantar fasciitis.
Boland had originally signed until the end of July, on a multi-format deal that would have seen him feature in Durham's T20 Blast campaign. However the foot injury caused him to arrive too late for their opening Division One fixture against Hampshire, where all four days were rained off, and it was exacerbated after 13 wicketless overs against Warwickshire.
Boland subsequently missed the latest round against Worcestershire, which Durham won within three days. Scans showed the 35-year-old will now require what the county describes as "significant recovery and rehabilitation".
Having not played a Test match since the last of his 10 caps during last summer's Ashes, Cricket Australia had encouraged Boland to play as much cricket as possible in this English season to build up his fitness ahead of their next Test series against India, which begins on November 22. Given Boland is not in their T20 World Cup plans, there is plenty of time for him to overcome this latest setback. As a centrally contracted player, CA will now oversee his recovery.
Marcus North, Durham's director of cricket, has acted quickly in securing Siddle as a replacement. The 39-year-old is no stranger to county cricket, following stints with Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Essex and, most recently, Somerset. Across all four clubs he boasts 189 wickets at an average of 22.98 - including 16 at 24.12 at Taunton last season.
"It was important we acted quickly to replace Scott Boland and we have done that with the addition of Peter Siddle for the County Championship," North said in a statement released on Monday.
"It is very disappointing to lose Scott after just one game and we wish him all the best in his recovery. We look forward to welcoming Pete to Durham and watching him play a key part in our success on the field in the coming weeks."