Siddle gains five kilos mass with 'vegetarian' diet to regain speed for Pak Test

Australian fast-medium bowler Peter Siddle has reportedly added five kilos of mass in a bid to regain the speed coach Darren Lehmann wants his quicks to deliver and has said that he is ready to show that his meat-free diet can provide the fuel he needs to survive the searing heat of the Middle East.

Dropped for the final Test in South Africa earlier this year, the country's most famous vegetarian athlete reportedly stopped pounding the pavement and hit the gym instead to replace the weight, and power, he lost through a hectic nine-month schedule.

Siddle is set to return to the Test side when Australia takes on Pakistan in Dubai, starting Wednesday, armed with the pace that had made him a mainstay of skipper Michael Clarke's attack, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Siddle admitted that he was pretty fatigued and pretty shot when his pace dropped off so much in Port Elizabeth that Brad Haddin was able to stand up to the stumps for the paceman.

When coach Lehmann declared several days later that Siddle was axed because of a lack of pace, the fast-bowler realised that he needed to change his training regime if he was to reclaim his place in the side. So he stopped running and went to the gym three times a week.

Siddle said that if one puts in more calories than one is burning then they are going to put on weight, and build muscle, adding it was pretty easy. He said that once he got home he did stop running, adding that it makes it a little bit easier to maintain weight.

Siddle said that he thinks he put on nearly four-and-a-half, five kilos, adding that it's a lot of weight since the end of South Africa. He said that he is feeling good and the diet hasn't changed.

Siddle's diet, of course, does not include meat, much to the chagrin of card-carrying members of the former fast bowling union.

Siddle said that being non-vegetarian doesn't make any difference at all; adding that it just shows that everyone believes one has to eat meat. But he said that he has have put on five kilos without changing a thing apart from a few different training patterns and eating a bit more and watching what he eats.