AUS vs PAK | Shane Warne disappointed by James Pattinson's absence for First Test through ban
Shane Warne is gutted by James Pattinson not being available for selection ahead of the first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane. Pattinson was found guilty of breaching Cricket Australia's code of conduct by abusing an opposition player during Victoria's Sheffield Shield game against Queensland.
Australian fast bowler James Pattinson had made a fine comeback to Test cricket after almost three years in the Ashes series where he was used sparingly but effectively to help Australia retain the Urn. He finally got rid of his injury woes and was looking forward to playing back-to-back Tests against Pakistan in their two-match series. But he will miss out on the first Test in Brisbane due to breaching the Cricket Australia's code of conduct for the third time in 18 months, this time by abusing an opposition player in a game between Victoria and Queensland. This meant that he was handed two demerit points and a one-game ban due to which former Australian spinner Shane Warne is very disappointed.
"It's disappointing, I'd pencilled him in for the first Test," Warne told Sportstar.
"I thought he was okay in the Ashes, not at his best, but he did a good job. I still think he's in our best three fast bowlers, though, when he's at his best," Warne further added.
Although Warne was disappointed by Pattinson's absence, he believes that Mitchell Starc will replace him in the eleven and he also felt that this kind of depth in the Australian bowling line-up is something that they have not experienced in a long period of time and the healthy competition among the fast bowlers will only raise the bar of their performances for the national team.
"It's a huge loss. It probably means Mitchell Starc will play, he's in good form as well. It's great to have those competition for spots - because it's not easy you don't just pencil in 'this is who we've got', we've got choices," Warne asserted.
"It's probably the first time in a while we've had choices with fast bowlers, first time we've got choices with batsmen - so I think Australian cricket is in pretty good shape, I thought they did well in England," Warne added.
Australia managed to regain the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001 and against all odds as the England bowlers were favorites to torment the Australian batsmen in swinging conditions. But that was not to be as Steve Smith starred with the bat along with some fantastic innings from Marnus Labuschagne and the bowlers backed it up to help Australia regain the Urn with the series finishing 2-2. But the series will always be remembered for the heroic innings played by Ben Stokes which helped England level the series at Edgebaston. Warne believes that Australia deserved to win 3-1 but Stokes was just too good on the day.
"It would have been nice to win 3-1 in the Ashes, I thought we deserved to win that rather than 2-2, but a fantastic English summer for the Aussies, World Cup semi-final and retaining the urn was pretty good so they're in good form leading into first Test match," Warne concluded.