Peter Siddle has hit back at Jimmy Anderson’s beer blow up, mocking the England paceman for becoming pious about pints.

Anderson revealed Australia opted against having some beers with the opposition in Cardiff following their crushing defeat in the first Ashes Test.

“It’s Cooky’s idea. He’s the captain, he went and asked them. We were all happy to do it. I don’t know why they didn’t come in,” he said.

“That’s their prerogative.”

Siddle noted it was “interesting” to read Anderson’s angst regarding the issue.

“Considering at The Oval last time we had a drink, he said he didn’t know why we do this and that he couldn’t stand it,” the Victorian paceman said.

“They are interesting comments but we know what Jimmy is like.”

In recent years, the practice has been for teams to share a drink at the end of a series but not during.

“I’ve played four Ashes series and we’ve never had a drink after a Test match until the very last one. I don’t think anything is going to change here,” Siddle said.

Michael Clarke took a more diplomatic approach, but was also keen to dismiss the issue.

“It’s not a big deal and I’m sure for England it’s not a big deal either,” Clarke said.

“I spoke to Darren Lehmann and spoke to a few of the senior players to get their view on it.

“They were of the opinion, like I, that at the end of the series we’ll make sure we go in and have a drink with England, or England will come into our change room.”

Anderson’s new-ball partner Stuart Broad was also surprised by the brouhaha.

“The modern way generally in the series I’ve played in is you have a beer after the series. Certainly in my dad’s day it was every night,” Broad laughed.

Anderson noted England and New Zealand had shared drinks, regardless of results, following both matches in their drawn 1-1 Test series earlier this year.

“We found that was quite an enjoyable thing, just to chew the fat after a hard Test. It didn’t matter whether we won or lost,” he said.