Australia captain Tim Paine has insisted that right-arm pacer James Pattinson was left-out of the 12-man squad for the second Ashes Test as they want to manage his workload properly to keep him fit and fresh for the upcoming matches.
Notably, Australia on Tuesday announced the 12-man squad for the second Ashes Test beginning 14 August at Lord’s where the 29-year-old speedster failed to make a cut.
Pattinson has suffered from multiple injury setbacks throughout his career. He was ruled out midway through the 2013 and 2017 Ashes due to back injuries, and a side-strain also kept him out of the later stages of this year’s Big Bash League.
The bowler took two wickets in the first Test at Edgbaston which Australia won by 251 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
“I think what we’ve done in the past with James (Pattnson) is got him back, we know how good he is so we keep using him and keep bowling him and eventually he’s broken again,” cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying ahead of the Lord’s Test.
Pattinson will be replaced by either Josh Hazlewood, who has also returned from a serious back injury, or Mitchell Starc.
“We’re really lucky in the fact we’ve got two bowlers (Starc and Hazlewood) in particular on the sidelines that are world-class and we want to make sure James is absolutely cherry ripe every time he plays.
“He’s available for selection but we’ve decided to rest him for this game and make sure that his long-term future is in really good shape,” he added.
Australia’s 12-man squad for the Lord’s Test: David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (captain, wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
(With inputs from IANS)