Darren Pattinson?

[GVGjr]

I must admit I have mixed feelings if the Bushrangers should play Darren Pattinson this season given he now cannot play for Australia. I see limited value in recruiting overseas cricketers to play in the Sheffield Shield competition because it simply limits opportunities for others and I now see Pattison in the same light.

Should we pick him if he is in good enough form or should we only play him to cover injuries etc?

I think there needs to be a price to pay for the players that hang onto dual passports and hedging their bets on who they will commit to. Good luck to them if they want to or get the opportunity to play for England but I think they should know that it could cost them their spot back in the state team.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

I still want to win the Shield.

If he's form's good enough, play him.

I think I read somewhere that Allan Wise has gone to SA. Denton and Harwood are too old and we might be losing Siddle to the national team. That leaves us with Nannes, McKay and Pattinson.

It's not just about blooding future test players, otherwise Elliott, Lehmann, Maher, Langer etc would have all been finished up last year. It's still a prestigous competition and I want to win it.

[KT31]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

Being a Vic would mean the Australian selectors would look over Pattinson.
Good luck to him if he can make a career out of cricket elsewhere.

As long as the numbers are limited the international players not only lift the standard of state cricket, they also offer the players and coaches a chance top learn a varience of different technique's.

Most of the Sheild players play overseas in the off season and this allows them to keep on top off their game , also improving the standard of the overseas competitions and the Shield competition.


Also if the Doggie's aren't going to win a flag at least Pattinson could help us win win the Sheffield Sheild.

Vale Paul Newman : He never had a failure to communicate.

[ledge]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

I am a dual passport person, mainly because my mother always told me if i travel to Europe its a lot easier to get around and also leaves me with opportunities to stay, get a job or live over there as long as i want.
Dont for one minute think he was hedging his bets do you?

Is it his fault that the Victorian or Australian cricket board didnt check?
Its supposed to be a proffessional sport, cant believe they missed it.

Most Australians play over in the UK, I am guessing he had no idea he would be chosen to play for England, If England picked it up before the Australians, and lets admit he was never going to play for Australia, well who would say no.

GVG i agree though it does stop another up and coming Australian, but they allow one in each state i believe for a number of reasons and i would think they would be...
To allow an overseas player to maybe pass on some experience to Australians
If its someone like Sachin Tendulkar it will bring more people to shield cricket and makes the standard even better.
And maybe it has some cricket politics to do with , ok Aussies can play in England at there top grade so return the favour.

County cricket I believe allows 2 for each team but admittedly there are a lot more county teams than Aussie state teams.
Australia over the years has also had plenty of overseas players play for it in the same circumstance as Pattinson ie Andrew Symonds.
As long as it stays at one for each state i think its fine.

[GVGjr]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

I am a dual passport person, mainly because my mother always told me if i travel to Europe its a lot easier to get around and also leaves me with opportunities to stay, get a job or live over there as long as i want.
Dont for one minute think he was hedging his bets do you?

Yes I do. Sporting people don't maintain dual passports just for the travel convenience they do it for the financial opportunities that might present and that is definitely hedging their bets.
Dual passports are a blight on a country as far as I am concerned. After 5 years everyone should be made to commit to one country.

Is it his fault that the Victorian or Australian cricket board didnt check?
Its supposed to be a proffessional sport, cant believe they missed it.

Thats irrelevant. If he had the choice between playing for Australia or England at the same time he would have chose Australia. Now that he exercised the soft option of playing a couple of games for England I think he should go to the end of the queue here.
Why should we potentially play him into form here at the expense of someone else when we could be playing against him some time down the track? Even if that is very unlikely.

Most Australians play over in the UK, I am guessing he had no idea he would be chosen to play for England, If England picked it up before the Australians, and lets admit he was never going to play for Australia, well who would say no.

Simply speaking if England did not have imported players running around in the competition the standard would be very poor because they have too many teams.
They allow teams to have 2 overseas players so if anyone can get that spot good luck to them.

GVG i agree though it does stop another up and coming Australian, but they allow one in each state i believe for a number of reasons and i would think they would be...
To allow an overseas player to maybe pass on some experience to Australians
If its someone like Sachin Tendulkar it will bring more people to shield cricket and makes the standard even better.
And maybe it has some cricket politics to do with , ok Aussies can play in England at there top grade so return the favour.

Australian cricket is strong because states haven't abused the options of playing overseas players and now that Pattison can't play for us nor for England because he simply isn't good enough he is very expendable here. I'd spell it out to him that if others are available then he won't be picked.

[GVGjr]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

I still want to win the Shield.
If he's form's good enough, play him.

Test cricket is more important than Shield as far as I am concerned. I understand that each state selector will have the priorities skewed more towards the state than the country but they need to be responsible.

Would you agree that if it came down to a battle between him and say McKay for a spot purely based on form then Pattison should be at a disadvantage because he isn't now capable of playing for higher honors?
I know that would be in the back of my mind or at least one of the considerations.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

Test cricket is more important than Shield as far as I am concerned. I understand that each state selector will have the priorities skewed more towards the state than the country but they need to be responsible.

Would you agree that if it came down to a battle between him and say McKay for a spot purely based on form then Pattison should be at a disadvantage because he isn't now capable of playing for higher honors?
I know that would be in the back of my mind or at least one of the considerations.

It would be a consideration but if there was an important player in the other side that Pattinson had a habit of getting out, that would carry more selection weight than his passport.

[hujsh]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

He's barely good enough to get a spot in the side. How he played for England is a mystery.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Darren Pattinson?

He's barely good enough to get a spot in the side. How he played for England is a mystery.

Right place, right time. Like Mike Whitney all those years ago.