Peter Siddle takes dig at De Villiers' sledging comments

Melbourne [Australia], Oct.19 (ANI): Australian paceman Peter Siddle has fired barbs at South Africa after captain AB de Villiers described the 2014 Michael Clarke's team as the most `abusive` he had ever faced. The 31-year-old pacer's comment comes ahead of the three-match Test series between two sides, starting from November 3 at the WACA. De Villiers had claimed that the sledging done by the Australian cricketers in their last three-match Test series in 2014 was the worst he has witnessed in his entire career. The South African skipper further went on to say that sledging by the Aussies in that series was `personal` and over the top. Insisting that de Villiers must never have been sledged before, Siddle said the Australian side was `pretty tame` during 2014 series in contrast to past eras and past teams. "He must never have been sledged before if that's the case. We were pretty tame, I think, compared to probably past eras and past teams. He must have had some pretty quiet games in his career," Siddle was quoted as saying by news.com.au. In a closely-fought series, Australia had emerged as the winners by a margin of 2-1 punctuated by a series of verbal altercation, including a feud between the then skipper Michael Clarke and South Africa pace spearhead Dale Steyn, and David Warner barking like a dog at Faf du Plessis on his dismissal. Meanwhile, du Plessis, who is leading the side in the absence of injured De Villiers, believes the Australian cricket's snarly sledging era is now over, especially because Steve Smith is now leading the side. "I have played against Australia now a lot of times and I think this (Australian) team is a little bit different than the team of old. The two of us play a similar brand of cricket now ... we more let the cricket do the talking," du Plessis said. Pointing out that sledging is not as important these days, du Plessis insisted that the focus has now been shifted to respecting the opposition and trying to win the game "I have gone through different stages of playing against Australia and certainly in the beginning it was different. But now under Steve Smith they seem to play a differentbrand and a similar brand of cricket that we do," he added. (ANI)