IT MAY have taken more than a minute to be confirmed by the third umpire, but fast bowler Peter Siddle - a man many experts said should not have been picked for the team - yesterday completed a dramatic hat-trick to put Australia on top after the first day of the five-Test Ashes tour.
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Siddle was celebrating his 26th birthday. Cliche has it that his exploits will have added icing to his cake.
Play seemed to be drifting sluggishly towards a late close, in a tea session characterised by wayward Australian bowling and stubborn English batting, when the Victorian produced the over from hell to tear the heart out of the old foes' innings.
First, he had England's opener Alastair Cook caught at slip. Then, he bowled wicketkeeper Matt Prior, before running half way to the boundary to celebrate. Then, as a hush fell for the first time over the packed Gabba he trapped fellow fast bowler Stuart Broad in front. Or so he, the umpire and the whole of Australia thought.
Siddle, who was once nicknamed Sid Vicious to avoid confusion with the coach Jamie Siddons, might have run all the way to the Story Bridge to celebrate, but was stopped in his tracks by the batsman's call for a video review of the decision. By the time it was given in his favour, Siddle was too encumbered with team-mates to run anywhere.
It was the fifth Ashes hat-trick by an Australian bowler, the first since spinner turned chat-show host Shane Warne in Melbourne in 1994-95.
Siddle, who has also earned fame as a woodchopper, had not finished. As rain threatened play he cut down tailender Graeme Swann, leg before wicket for 10, finishing with six wickets. Within an hour, a rampant Australia had dismissed England for 260.
After being written off in recent weeks as a team of ill-matched, out-of-form diehards, Australia suddenly looked like a puzzle about to fall into place. After being promoted as a team of world-beaters, England looked from the start like an accident, albeit a slow-motion accident, waiting to happen. Siddle speeded the process.
By close of play Australia were 0 for 25. They must now bat on a greenish wicket in conditions that traditionally help swing bowlers, but if it's true - as many pundits, former captain Steve Waugh among them, claim - that the tone of an Ashes series is set on the first day of the first Test, then they must now be favourites to win back the trophy.
Such is the shock delivered by the demon Siddle.
