Cricket News sort by James Lee Pattinson

For Australians, the Hobart Test has been all about players seizing the opportunity to try and cement their places in the side for the upcoming games

Fast bowler James Pattinson has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes Series following yet another injury in his short career. The 23-year-old Pattinson, who is one of the fastest bowlers of the world at present, has been diagnosed with an early stage low back stress fracture.

Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson claimed four wickets each as Australia did extremely well to bowl out hosts Somerset for 320 on the opening day’s play of their 4-day tour match at Taunton.

The sixth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) may have kicked off amid much fanfare, but simultaneously another league has been growing rather strongly. More and more players are joining the list of another IPL, which we have termed as the Injured Players League.

The axing of the four Australian players from the squad for the Mohali Test for not following team instructions is churlish to say the least. It is a well-known fact that the Aussies are sticklers for discipline, but the harsh action taken against Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khwaja is impossible to comprehend no matter what.

In a shocking development, the Australian team management has dropped four players for the 3rd Test at Mohali on disciplinary grounds. Three of those dropped players are proven match winners – Shane Watson, James Pattinson and Mitchell Johnson. The fourth player is Usman Khawaja who was expected to play the Mohali Test in place of the struggling Phil Hughes.

Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 71 to steer India safely to 182 for 3 in reply to Australia’s 380. The little master got able support from Cheteshwar Pujara (44) and Kohli (50*) to take the initiative away from the Aussies.

After all the build-up, the India-Australia series will finally kick off on Friday at Chennai. It goes without saying that the team which performs better as a combined unit will emerge winners. At the same time, there are a few individual battles that could also impact the series. Here are a few battles within the battle that we believe could be significant factors in determining the outcome of the series.