Sheffield Shield 2021-22: James Pattinson hit Daniel Hughes with wayward throw, batter left livid

James Pattinson might have retired from international cricket. However, he continues to ply this trade in domestic competitions. As of now, he’s plying his trade for Victoria in the ongoing Sheffield Shield 2021-22. While the Australian pacer wasn’t at his best with the ball in his recent outing against New South Wales, he hogged the limelight due to a wrong reason. Pattinson made a wayward throw in the last innings that accidentally hit Daniel Hughes.

It was the 87th over of the fourth innings and Hughes was fighting as a lone warrior to earn his side a draw. Pattinson went for a yorker-length delivery in order to dismantle the stumps but Hughes precisely played it back to the bowler. Although the southpaw didn’t try to take any run, Pattinson had a shy at the stumps after collecting the ball.

James Pattinson apologized to Daniel Hughes

The ball went onto hit Hughes’ toes and the batter was left livid. He seemed hurt and even threw his bat and helmet in anger. The game was also paused for a while before Hughes geared up to bat again. Fortunately, the left-handed batter didn’t suffer any major injury. However, Pattinson’s ‘unnecessary’ throw earned from different corners. Notably, the bowler apologized right after hitting Hughes. However, his aggression wasn’t appreciated by fans and experts.

Former leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe said he isn’t a fan of Pattinson’s actions. “The two most unsavoury aspects are, A) the send-off when you’ve got somebody out and, B) the chuck at the stumps by a bowler,” O’Keeffe told Fox Cricket.

“Are we the only country that does it? Like, Mitch Starc does it for fun in England and he gets booed. Is it the way we play our cricket? You hit it back to the bowler, he picks it up and wants to peg you – I mean, what is going on there?” he added.

Meanwhile, the episode didn’t dent Hughes’ concentration as he continued to bat and torment all Victoria bowlers. Unfortunately for New South Wales, the 32-year-old, who remained unbeaten at 89, didn’t receive any support from other end as NSW got skittled out for 247, losing the contest by 174 runs. Pattinson took three wickets in the encounter.