Sky Sports columnist Ryan Sidebottom feels his county colleague Darren Pattinson came in for some unfair criticism.

It was disappointing to miss out at Headingley but unfortunately I woke up a bit stiff and wasn't fit to play. I've had two lots of injections recently and possibly didn't give the first lot a chance to really work their magic.

With a weeks rest behind me, hopefully we've managed to kill all my back spasms and I'll be 100 per cent fit and up for selection at Edgbaston.

In Test cricket, you have to be on the top of your game to succeed and possibly I wasn't on top form down at Lord's a couple of weeks ago.

It's a tough one really, because you never want to miss out on playing for your country. And if you do, you have to accept it presents an opportunity for your replacement to perform and get ahead of you.

My Notts teammate Darren Pattinson made his debut in this last Test and came in for a lot of criticism - a lot of it unfair. It's never easy making your debut and playing international cricket, you get bags of media attention.

I don't think Darren expected to be playing and was suddenly making his England debut. I thought he did pretty well despite the nerves that were obviously around, and he got into the Test with a couple of wickets.

He has done well all season and it seemed a bit unfair to get onto him just because he was selected!

The Headingley Test match has certainly showed that the South Africans have acclimatised well and are on good form.

I still thought we bowled well as a unit but they were very patient and wore the bowlers down. Neither side have swung the ball particularly but they bowled good areas and obviously had the runs on the board to create some serious pressure.

We have to remember that it was only a couple of weeks ago at Lord's that we managed to post a big total and put their batsmen under serious pressure, bowling them out for 200.

Big runs are the key here and our batsmen will be desperate to produce the goods at Edgbaston.

The Edgbaston wicket doesn't tend to bounce that much but it does turn. I'm not sure whether we will go as far as two spinners but I just hope to be considered for selection.

I'm having a bowl tomorrow for the first time and if I come through that unscathed then I'll know I'm on the road to recovery.

Its harder work trying to get fit than playing because you find yourself training all the time! The sooner I get on the field, the better and hopefully, if selected, I'll be able to have an impact at Edgbaston.

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