Moores defends Pattinson selection

10:59pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008

England coach Peter Moores has defended the wildcard pick of Darren Pattinson in the aftermath of the Headingley hammering by South Africa - insisting it was not an indictment of the system.

Handing a debut to the Australia-raised bowler added to the uncertainty ahead of the second npower Test in Leeds, and led captain Michael Vaughan to admit the final XI was a confused selection.

But Moores said: "Darren was the pick because of how he'd been bowling in county cricket. He is a similar bowler to Matthew Hoggard in some ways but that was the choice and it wasn't a choice taken lightly. It was a long meeting."

Ultimately Vaughan opted for Pattinson last Friday morning as his only available swing option, after reigning England player of the year Ryan Sidebottom was ruled out through a back injury.

Mindful of the overhead conditions, Vaughan viewed the 29-year-old as a better bet than hit-the-deck paceman Chris Tremlett, having been put on standby as the best performing swing-bowler in the country by selectors Geoff Miller, James Whitaker and Ashley Giles.

That saw him leapfrog swing specialist Hoggard, who has 248 Test victims, in addition to those in county cricket to have come through a multi-million-pound academy structure.

Moores said: "You've got to take advice on where any bowler is at a given time - is he bowling well, how's he going, what's he doing?

"We will do that with all the bowlers out there, that's what we've got Geoff for, that's what we've got James Whitaker for - people are out there telling you what's happening with a given bowler.

"You can look at their stats, but you can't always go and see them yourself because you are playing a Test match or whatever and the schedules don't allow you to do that."

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