Darren Pattinson's surprise selection in England's XI for the Headingley Test against South Africa has not just bemused Englishmen, but also a few Australians. Pattinson, two weeks away from his 30th birthday, had spent the last 24 years of his life in Australia, is a roof tiler by trade and has played 11 first-class matches. (Read more in the piece by Cricinfo's Andrew McGlashan.)
"It's unbelievable. I don't reckon he'll be doing any roof-tiling for a while."
Jonathan Agnew is surely not impressed. He writes in the Test Match Special blog:
What message does this send to English county cricketers who dream of playing for England - and, specifically in this case, to Chris Tremlett, who was actually called into the squad before Pattinson?
Vic Marks has an interesting take on Pattinson's selection in his blog on the Guardian website.
Headingley can do odd things to selectors. It was here, for example, that David Graveney had a brainwave. He opted for Mike Smith, the little Gloucestershire swinger, rather than Andy Caddick against Australia. A catch went down; the ball refused to swing, England were thrashed and Smith never resurfaced again. Moreover Graveney's confidence and standing as a selector was dented.
As for Pattinson, it's too early to tell. CMJ had a Machiavellian theory: that Miller had picked him as a prelude to next year's Ashes encounter. Until yesterday it might have been possible for Pattinson to play for either country. Now he is English, despite what his father has said - "Darren, he's Australian"- when he was called into Champions Trophy 30. Having been selected Pattinson is committed to England; the Aussies can't have him. So when he takes seven against the Aussies at Headingley next year I shall be leading the calls for Miller's knighthood. Until then I remain confused.
Just the thought of Headingley makes fools of wise men, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.
Remember Martin Bicknell. Well, he too made his debut at Headingley like Pattinson. England selectors have often made interesting picks to exploit the conditions in Leeds, Cricinfo looks at how they fared.
Things like this are not supposed to happen any more. Not in this regimented era of central contracts, national academies, selectorial continuity and all the other trappings of Team England, says Alan Lee in the Times.
If we learned one thing here yesterday, it is that obscurity and celebrity are just different shades on the same spectrum. All it takes to bring them together is unreasonable expectation. We may think we know an awful lot more about Andrew Flintoff than Darren Pattinson, whose names stood out like neon when the team sheet was handed out on a dank, melancholy morning in Leeds. But just as the superhero exists in only two dimensions, the judgements that brought Pattinson here can hardly be deemed any less trite.
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