England captain Michael Vaughan said the “confused” selection of Victorian bowler Darren Pattinson was partially to blame for his side’s emphatic 10-wicket defeat to South Africa in the second Test.
South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the four-match series after outplaying the English for practically the entire match, but Vaughan said some of the blame had to be put on the selection of Pattinson.
The fast bowler – who had played just five first-class matches with Victoria and six with English county Nottinghamshire – took two wickets but rarely looked threatening against the South African batting lineup.
While Pattinson could not seriously be blamed for England’s first day batting collapse – they were dismissed for just 203 after Paul Collingwood was surprisingly dropped – Vaughan suggested the quick wouldn’t be back for the third Test.
“It does look a confused selection,” Vaughan told England’s Daily Mail after the defeat.
“It did unsettle the team. The whole Friday morning unsettled the team. You change the team by two players, there are players playing out of position and you leave out a player like Paul Collingwood, who is a huge player in the side, of course it has an effect.
“But we should still have been better at coping with it. A lot of us are experienced players. We got ourselves into a good position on that first day at 110 for three and then played like millionaires in the afternoon.
“I was involved in the selection, but one selection doesn’t lose you a Test. Hindsight is wonderful. We lost because we didn’t play well enough. We’re a better batting unit than 203.”
“Darren’s been given a lot of criticism, but it’s not his fault. He tried his guts out and bowled some good spells.
“I felt sorry for him. He’s not been in the set-up and didn’t know anyone. We didn’t know him, so it was difficult for him. Whether it affected other players in the dressing room, I haven’t heard it did.”
