DUMPED paceman James Pattinson says he deserves his axing for a disciplinary breach and claims former Test stars do not understand the culture the Australian team is trying to build.
Speaking for the first time since his demotion for Thursday's third Test, Pattinson admits there is "no excuse" for failing to invest in the team culture, revealing he had apologised to the playing group.
Pattinson, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were yesterday suspended for one match for failing to take part in a peer review of Australia's performances and the Victorian quick says his actions were unacceptable.
"It shows a lack of respect to the coach, the captain as well, and the rest of the team. I know if I was in their position, as a team member, I’d be quite disappointed in them for being a bit selfish," Pattinson said.
“People talk about it as a harsh punishment but looking deeply into it you realise probably it’s not.
"If you want to be part of the Australian cricket team you have to do everything right. It’s not acceptable. I believe it’s the right punishment.
"Everyone in the group needs to understand that this is the lengths we need to go to to be successful as a team.
"We had a training session yesterday and we apologised to the team about it.
"It does hurt, missing a Test match. It’s not only that, you let your team down as well.
"At the time I was told I was quite upset. At the start I didn’t take it as well as I probably could have.
"The easy thing for me was to make excuses and say it’s a harsh punishment. But the reality is it’s not – it’s part of playing cricket for Australia.
"You’ve got to do everything right. It wasn’t hard for the other 12 blokes to get it in on time and they took the time out to really reflect and do what’s best for the team whereas us four didn’t.
"Right now I’m still hurting about it but in the long run I think it’s going to make us a better team."
