Stand down the cavalry, Siddle insists he can carry the load THE cavalry bugles can be heard in the distance but Australia's ironman pace bowler Peter Siddle insists he doesn't need any rescuing and is ready for marathon back-to-back efforts in the Adelaide and Perth Ashes Tests. A year ago Siddle and fellow paceman Ben Hilfenhaus were rested for the Perth Test against the South Africans after sending down 33 and 34 overs respectively against the Proteas in the Adelaide Test in an heroic but ultimately unsuccessful bid to bowl Australia to victory on the final day after the third member of the pace attack, James Pattinson, broke down in the first innings. Even after bowling himself to a standstill at the Adelaide Oval, Siddle still had pushed strongly for inclusion in the Perth Test and arguably the selectors erred in standing him down as the South Africans broke loose to smash 569 in the second innings to win the Test and the series. Australia's fast bowling stocks are being replenished rapidly, with Pat Cummins returning from injury to club cricket last weekend and Pattinson and Jackson Bird doing the same today, but Siddle isn't feeling any crying need to stand aside. Certainly he can see no reason why he can't bowl 60 overs in the Adelaide Test starting on Thursday - just four short of his match workload there last year - and then hit the ground running in Perth four days later. "That would be the plan," said Siddle, who at least was spared a heavy-duty workout in the Ashes opener at the Gabba last week. He bowled only 26.4 overs in the Brisbane Test, half as many as he did in the corresponding Test last season against the Proteas. After bowling throughout the northern summer on unwatered, dusty pitches made to order by the England Cricket Board to suit off-spinner Graeme Swann, Australia's cricketers had been expecting, if not doctored wickets, then at least ones that didn't negate their strengths. Australia's pace bowlers had the better of their England counterparts in Brisbane, with Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris both consistently bowling faster than James Anderson and Stuart Broad and Siddle more than matching Chris Tremlett. All the momentum should have been flowing to Australia going into the second Test at the Adelaide Oval, yet all advance reports indicate the two sides will be served up a featherbed pitch. Siddle, however, insisted that however helpful or demoralising the surface proves to be, the Australian pace trio would again unleash the same aggressive, intimidatory tactics that served them so well at the Gabba. "We don't know what's going to be prepared for us," he said yesterday in Melbourne. We'll get over there, we'll assess the wicket and see what plans we'll go with. Johnson went wicketless in the only Test he played on the tour of India in March, but he has shown enough in one-day matches on the subcontinent to suggest he is far more than a greentop bully. "We all saw Mitch bowl over in India on flatter wickets than we're probably going to get in Adelaide," said Siddle. Australia might be 1-0 up in the series and eagerly anticipating the fireworks to come on a WACA pitch that former Test opener Justin Langer believes is back to its bouncy best, but as the reigning Ashes champion England knows it needs only to draw the series to retain the urn. Adelaide, where it won by an innings and 71 runs in the last series on Australian soil, will be seen by Alastair Cook and his players as the venue that best offers England the chance to get back on level terms.