As a result, Pattinson breached level two of Article 2.13 of Cricket Australia's code of conduct for personal abuse of a player. The on-field umpires John Ward and Shawn Craig made the call, stating that Pattinson had crossed his limits with his language towards Gannon.

Pattinson accepted his mistake and apologized for his inappropriate words in the "heat of the moment". "Straight away I realized I was in the wrong, and I apologized 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 has now been suspended twice for Australia. He was previously barred from playing the Delhi Test against India in 2013 during the "homework" gate under then-coach Mickey Arthur, along with Usman Khawaja, Shane Watson, and Mitchell Johnson.

Pattinson's suspension opens the door for left-armer Mitchell Starc to be the third pacer for the first Test at Brisbane starting November 21. While Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins seemed certain starters for the series, the team management remained undecided between Pattinson and Starc, whose workloads have been carefully managed since the Ashes in England this year.