James Pattinson is out of the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba after receiving a one-game suspension from Cricket Australia for a code of conduct breach during Victoria's Sheffield Shield match with Queensland that concluded on Friday.
He has been found guilty of a level two breach of Article 2.1.3 of Cricket Australia's code of conduct for personal abuse of a player. The charge was driven by umpires John Ward and Shawn Craig who felt that Pattinson overstepped the mark with his language towards a Queensland player.
"I made a mistake in the heat of the moment," Pattinson said. "Straight away I realised I was in the wrong, and I apologised immediately, both to the opponent and to the umpires. I have done the wrong thing and accept the penalty. I'm gutted to miss a Test match, but the standards are there for a reason and the fault is mine."
Pattinson and Victoria were visibly frustrated throughout the match with some of the umpiring decisions, including his own lbw in the first innings on day two when he was part of Mitchell Swepson's hat-trick.
Pattinson had previously been found guilty of two level one code of conduct breaches over the past year for which he received a reprimand and a 100% match fee fine, the latter for showing dissent at the umpire's decision in a Shield game against South Australia.
"He knows he's let himself down, he's let the group down," Tim Paine told ABC Grandstand. "We actually had a chat last night about the fact we hold ourselves to really high standards with our behavior. That's not just when we're playing [international] cricket, we've got to go back to domestic cricket and lead the way on that front as well, so we're disappointed in that, but James has owned up and knows he's made mistake and has apologised for it and he will come back bigger and better."
Sean Carroll, Cricket Australia's head of integrity and security, said "We have a duty to uphold the highest standards of behaviour and the action taken in this matter demonstrates that. On this occasion, James acknowledges he fell short of that expectation."
It means he is unavailable for selection for the first Test and it appears highly likely now that Mitchell Starc will be the third fast bowler chosen alongside Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Pattinson did not think he would be selected in any case.
While Pattinson has been suspended, Steven Smith only received a fine of 25% of his match fee for dissent during New South Wales' Shield match against Western Australia. Smith, like Pattinson, also had a prior record, his 12-month suspension by Cricket Australia in March 2018 was a code of conduct charge, and he is still serving a two-year leadership ban until the end of March 2020.