Siddle earns his stripes

Peter Siddle admits there are no guaranteed places in the new-look Australia team

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Peter Siddle believes he is closer to cementing a regular place in the Australia team after snaring his maiden five-wicket haul on day three of the third Test against South Africa.

Siddle announced his arrival on the international scene today in just his fourth Test for Australia, ripping through the Proteas tail in an inspired spell to finish with 5-59.

Australia then moved on to 33 without loss at stumps and will take an overall lead of 151 into day four on a deteriorating SCG pitch.

"It's very pleasing to get my first five-for and I feel happy about that," 24-year-old Siddle said, having helped restrict the visitors to 327 in their first innings.

"It's just good to be able to go out there and stand up for the team and just be a part of the team. Everyone bowled well and we all worked together and it was a good result."

Siddle, who entered the Sydney Test having taken five wickets in the series at an average of 48, admits the pressure of playing the game at the highest level is relentless.

After a disappointing outing in Perth in which he captured a solitary scalp, the former woodchopper admitted struggling for confidence.

He credits some solid work in the nets before his home Test in Melbourne for his sudden resurgence.

Siddle was pressurised by the call-up of Tasmanian paceman Ben Hilfenhaus at the WACA

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"There's always pressure, I had a disappointing match over in Perth and the 13th man (Ben Hilfenhaus) had come into the squad, so there's pressure on everyone I think," Siddle explained.

"You want to stand up and just get your rhythm right and start bowling well and I hadn't bowled well (in Perth), so I wanted to just work on a few things and get a few things into my game.

"And that's where it all happened (at the MCG) and I started feeling comfortable and started to feel a lot better, so it's all going well at the moment."

Asked about the motivation behind his destructive spell at the Proteas tail, which yielded four for eight from six overs, a remorseless Siddle suggested: "They seem to give it to us when we get out there and bat so they've got to cop it back I suppose as well.

"When you've worked hard all day you want to try and get a few more wickets, so I think you've just got to keep running in and keep crashing the wicket and I was lucky enough to get the results so it was a good finish."

South Africa’s innings owed much to a 115-run partnership between Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel.

Boucher’s well-made 89 was the highlight of the day for the tourists and the wicketkeeper remains confident his team can still pull a victory out of the bag to claim a 3-0 series whitewash.

“We have to put on a good fight,” he said. “The wicket is deteriorating quickly but we have done some miraculous things throughout the series and hopefully we can do more of that in this match."