This whole thing is f'ing hilarious, however it's so ridiculous that i suppose it must be considered that it has been manufactured deliberately. I mean, let's face it, all of these four players probably had a pretty good reason for not approaching the exercise seriously. Two were out of the team and so would probably have been loathe to complete the exercise when to do it honestly would have looked transparently looked like an exercise in self-promotion. Watson we know has his own issues about his place in the team, and Pattinson would have struggled to avoid being abusive about the efforts of every other bowler in the team. So given the realistic choice about paying lip-service to the task and not doing it at all, it's hardly surprising they opted for the latter option. Especially if they weren't made aware of the consequences.
On the other hand, Watson was going to disrupt the team by flying home anyway, the availability of Khawaja and Johnson was making team replacements almost obligatory to satisfy a baying public, even if the team management were in disagreement, and finally, having played two matches in a row, Pattinson was long overdue an injury timeout....
On the other hand, Watson was going to disrupt the team by flying home anyway, the availability of Khawaja and Johnson was making team replacements almost obligatory to satisfy a baying public, even if the team management were in disagreement, and finally, having played two matches in a row, Pattinson was long overdue an injury timeout....
