Jamie Siddons

A talented right-hand batsman in Australian domestic cricket, James Darren Siddons played just one ODI for Australia in 1988 and never got a chance to flaunt the “Baggy Green” in Test cricket.

Siddons began his first-class career first with Victoria, and then moved to South Australia. Apart from being an aggressive batsman who dominated the bowlers, Siddons was also an able leader and captained South Australia to a title win. A superb fielder in the covers, he was famously known for not dropping many catches. In a first-class career that spanned more than 15 years, Siddons scored heavily in the Sheffield Shield and retired in 1999-2000 with 10,643 runs to his credit, which was then a record. Later, he was surpassed by former teammate Darren Lehmann, and retained the third position behind Tasmanian Jamie Cox.

Post retirement, Siddons was an assistant coach of South Australia, under the guidance of Greg Chappell and Wayne Philips. He was then named the senior coach at the Centre of Excellence in 2005, and was subsequently appointed assistant coach of the national team. His rise in management positions was rapid which then resulted in his appointment as the coach of the Bangladesh cricket team in late 2007. Under his stint, Bangladesh made huge improvements, winning two Tests and 31 ODIs, a major change. However, in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, the team failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. His last assignment as the coach was the ODI series against Australia post the World Cup.