Sheffield Shield 2021-22: James Pattinson cops fine, one-match ban for throwing ball at Daniel Hughes

Former Australia fast bowler James Pattinson has found himself in trouble after he threw the ball at batter Daniel Hughes during Victoria’s match against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield 2021-22 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Cricket Australia (CA) has slapped the speedster with a 100 percent fine of his match fees and also handed him a one-match ban.

The 31-year-old Pattinson was found guilty of a Level 2 offence under the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct. In the 87th over of the NSW innings in the final day’s play, Pattinson collected the ball in his follow through and hurled it back at Hughes after the latter played a defensive shot.

Thereafter, Hughes was struck on the ankle. Pattinson was quick to apologise as the NSW batter looked in clear discomfort. On Wednesday, November 10, CA released a statement, where they meted out the punishment to Pattinson, who retired from international cricket back last month.

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“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,” CA said in a statement, cricket.com.au reported.

“Pattinson was fined 100 per cent of his match fee for the Marsh Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and NSW held on November 5-8, 2021,” the statement mentioned.

Earlier in the day, Pattinson had dismissed Hughes, but a no-ball robbed him off the wicket. Victoria, however, went on to win the game by 174 runs. Pattinson picked up two wickets in the first innings followed by one in the second.

Hughes had an impressive outing, although his efforts went in vain. He scored 59 runs in the first innings and churned out a hard-fought unbeaten 319-ball 89 in the second innings.

Since Pattinson has received a one-match ban, he won’t be a part of Victoria’s Day-Night One-Day match against NSW on Friday, November 12 at the MCG. Pattinson has the right to appeal the decision.

Peter Handscomb, the Victoria captain, said, “He’s a fiery boy, old Patto. We had a little quiet chat, the umpires and myself, just to see what they were thinking, but we’ll move on.”