Aussie skipper Tim Paine details injury toll from Ashes final Test

Australia skipper Tim Paine has revealed the injury toll from the final Test of the Ashes and heaped praise on an absolute warrior.

Aussie skipper Tim Paine has revealed the injury fallout from the fifth and final Test of the Ashes series.

Paine battled through a broken thumb, while fast bowler Peter Siddle fought through a torn hip flexor. An injury Siddle picked up on the opening day.

England won the final Test by 135 runs to draw the series at 2-2, but the result saw Australia retain the urn.

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The Aussies return home with Paine becoming the first skipper to bring the urn home since 2001 and will miss the upcoming T20 games to get back to health.

“My thumb was broken towards the end of that Test but it is not displaced, so I should be right to get back into training early,” Paine wrote in his column for The Australian.

Paine also revealed his Big Bash career would be put on hold as his focus remains on leading the Australian squad into Test battles.

Paine was full of praise for the warrior that is Peter Siddle.

Siddle has come under fire for his efforts in the Test at The Oval which saw him finish with figures of 3/113 from both innings.

Former Australia selector Mark Waugh questioned why Mitchell Starc wasn’t included in the team over Siddle.

“He definitely should have played that last Test, I don’t understand why he didn’t play ahead of Peter Siddle,” he said.

“It seems kind of strange because they talked about keeping their bowlers fresh all the way through the series.”

Paine however wasn’t having any of the criticism and instead heaped praise on Siddle for his herculean efforts to keep running in and playing his role with the ball.

“Peter Siddle tore a hip flexor bowling on the first morning,” Paine wrote.

“He has copped a bit of criticism for not bowling as well as he we know he can, but the team knows just how heroic he was. A lot of other people wouldn’t have bowled again in the match, but he pushed on because he didn’t want to leave Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to do extra work. He’s a warrior, Sidds, and we love him deeply for that.”

Australia will play Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the T20 international series which gets underway on October 27.

Their focus will then shift to back-to-back Test series’ against Pakistan and New Zealand.