Former Australia Test pacer James Pattinson has been suspended by Cricket Australia following an “unusual” outburst during a Sheffield Shield clash against New South Wales at the MCG.Pattinson has been found guilty of a Level 2 offence under the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct. Pattinson was charged and found guilty under Article 2.7 of the Code for throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during a match. Pattinson was fined 100% of his match fee for the Marsh Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and New South Wales held on November 5-8, 2021. He also received one suspension point and will be ineligible for selection in the Victoria v New South Wales Marsh One-Day Cup match on November 12.The pacer made a wayward angry throw that struck New South Wales opener Daniel Hughes' foot and left him injured.
The duo also made verbal exchanges before both players went back to the pavilion for the Tea break. The incident took place during the second session on Day 4 when Hughes played a defensive shot back to Pattinson and the bowler threw the ball back at the batter hitting him on his leg.Speaking on Fox Cricket, former Australian leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe deemed Pattinson’s actions “unsavoury” and said that once the player has played a defensive shot back to the bowler and he picks it up, that completes that delivery and the bowler is supposed to walk back to bowl his next, while former all-rounder Brendon Julian too had a similar opinion and said that the batter wasn’t even going for a run and that the bowler can’t be doing that. Pattinson announced his retirement from international cricket last month after deciding he would not be in a position to push for an Ashes berth.Pattinson made his debut in 2011, taking five-wicket hauls in his first two matches against New Zealand, but his career was ravaged by injury with multiple stress fractures in his back leading to serious spinal surgery in 2017. He fought his way back to play in the 2019 Ashes and overall took 81 wickets at 26.33, with an impressive strike-rate of 48.90.He also played 15 ODIs and four T20Is but had not played white-ball cricket for Australia since 2015.
