The Ashes: Siddle's outburst riles Prior

Peter Siddle celebrates taking the wicket of Matt Prior. Photo / Getty Images

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior says there was no need for Peter Siddle to deliver the verbal send-off that led to their fiery exchange in the third Ashes Test in Perth.

The gloveman said the Australian paceman's decision to bait him following his dismissal on day two at the WACA was the equivalent of kicking a man while he is down in a boxing bout.

Prior's comments could end up proving to be a red rag to a bull and only encourage Siddle to try to further get under his skin.

"He got me out luckily, maybe, as the ball trickled off my body on to the stumps, but out still," Prior wrote in his column for The Independent.

"As I left he said something which annoyed me.

"It doesn't matter what he said but once you have dismissed somebody you have done the job on them.

"There are not many boxing matches when a guy knocks someone out and then kicks him while he's on the floor.

"That isn't the way it works.

"I didn't enjoy him getting me out but I don't think there was a need for him to say anything after that."

Prior denied that he had told Siddle to meet him out the back for a fight.

"Having said that I didn't need to react in the way I did," Prior added.

"You might have seen a gesture followed by some words.

"What has been reported that I said is not true.

"I didn't offer to take him into the car park or offer to fight him after the game. I didn't say anything along those lines.

"I will stick by the way I play the game. I play it hard on the pitch but that's where it stays."

Not that Prior believed the Australian players had crossed the line with their increased on-field aggression in Perth.

"If I saw Peter Siddle right now I would go over and talk about cricket and have a beer with him," Prior wrote.

"I saw a couple of the Aussies the night after the match.

"There will be a lot said about it but it's not the way I want to be remembered, and it's not the way Peter Siddle will want to be remembered."

Siddle is facing a battle for the third seamer's spot for the Boxing Day Test with Ben Hilfenhaus if Australia revert to three specialist quicks for the match.

But the Victorian is expected to shade Hilfenhaus because of the game being played on his home deck.

- AAP