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With the recent announcement that young firebrand James Pattinson will miss the rest of the summer with shin issues, the alarm bells must be deafening at Cricket Australia.
As Pattinson joins fellow express merchant Pat Cummins in the sick bay, one wonders whether coach Darren Lehmann’s desire for tearaway quicks is pushing our youngsters to breaking point.
Since his highly impressive Test debut in South Africa as a raw 18-year-old, Cummins has only been able to add a handful of ODIs and Twenty20s to his international resume between far too frequent injury layoffs.
Meanwhile, Pattinson seems capable of only putting together a Test or two before breaking down.
The ongoing injury woes of both bowlers comes despite frequent assertions from the Australian coaching staff and biomechanical experts that their rebuilt actions will effectively ‘injury proof’ them.
Weeks after their return, the all-too-familiar media releases and Cricket Australia articles emerge yet again, outlining another impending injury layoff or surgery, followed by the inevitable rehabilitation and biomechanical remedial action.
With the dream line-up of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pattinson and Cummins a mere pipe dream at this stage, it is difficult to know who should be accepting some of the blame for the ongoing crippling of the fast bowling brigade.
While injuries occur in all sports, the fates of James and Pat (Pattinson and Cummins, and perhaps Howard and Sutherland as well) are currently looking more like Bruce Reid than Glenn McGrath at this stage.
Fortunately, both men have age on the side, although Pattinson is edging ever closer to 30. One can only hope the coming years will finally see a break in this regular pattern of setbacks, and a continued resurgence for Steven Smith’s side overall.
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