The Australian seamer will be missing for an indefinite period with a back problem that he has been managing in recent weeks. He will undergo a scan to determine the full extent of the damage
Peter Siddle's spell at Somerset is in danger of being cut short after he was withdrawn from action due to a long-running lower back injury.
The 37-year-old has been managing the issue for a number of weeks and has shown no sign of improvement.
He will undergo a scan to determine the full extent of the damage and a timeline regarding his recovery.
Siddle's overseas spell at Somerset runs until the end of August, which is dominated by the One-Day Cup, and it remains to be seen whether he will feature again.
Capped 67 times in Tests, on 20 occasions in one-day internationals and twice in T20Is by Australia, the veteran right-armer has played 21 times for Somerset across the formats during the 2022 season, taking 45 wickets.
Siddle took 17 wickets on Somerset's Blast run (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
He was part of the side that navigated their way to T20 Blast Finals Day, only to be beaten by eventual winners Hampshire Hawks in the semi-final.
"Peter has been managing a lower back complaint over the past few weeks with no significant improvement," said head of science and medicine at Somerset, Jamie Thorpe.
"We now feel that it is appropriate for him to undertake a scan in order for us to obtain complete clarity of the complaint and to ensure that we can put in place an appropriate management plan."
There is better injury news around seamer Sonny Baker, however, who has returned from a lumbar stress fracture in the 50-over competition.
Baker was back at his best against Durham (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Baker missed England's run to the Under-19 World Cup final and had not played this season prior to his comeback against Nottinghamshire, where he finished wicketless for the cost of 38 runs from just 11 balls.
But his second outing saw the 19-year-old claim career-best figures of 6 for 46 in the nine-run victory over Durham at Taunton.
He said: "I'm getting back to full fitness, although you wouldn’t have thought that last week when I got parked for 38 off two overs.
"It's really nice to have had a bit of a turnaround though. I’ve been out for a while so this was good from a confidence point of view. It's been a long winter and this performance certainly meant a lot to me."