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Australian fast bowler James Pattinson is increasingly looking like a lost cause. The 26-year-old quick has broken down once more, suffering a recurrence of back stress fractures which has seen him ruled out of cricket indefinitely.
Australian fans have high hopes for Pattinson, but this latest setback suggests we may never get to see him become the dominant Test bowler he promised to be.
Since barrelling on to the Test scene as a 21-year-old with a remarkable ability to bend the ball at up to 154km/h, Pattinson has been beset by injuries.
In the four-and-a-half years since he snared 6-91 on debut against New Zealand, he has managed to play just 17 Tests.
Pattinson’s list of injuries is long and varied – hamstring problems, foot fractures, side strains, shin complaints and, above all, a dodgy back. It was stress fractures in his back which first saw him sidelined from international cricket for a lengthy stint during the 2013 Ashes in England.
Heading into that Ashes, Pattinson was the most imposing young bowler in Test cricket, having taken 40 wickets at an average of 23 from his first ten matches. During Australia’s disastrous 4-0 series loss in India just months before, he had been easily the best pacemen from either side, regularly harrying the Indian batsmen with his searing speed.
After his body fell apart in England, he was out of the Test team for eight months. Pattinson made his return in the third Test against South Africa in March 2014, and helped Australia secure a rousing series win. But it came at a hefty price, as he hurt his back once again.
Another comeback in the 2014-15 summer was carefully managed by Victoria and his Big Bash League franchise the Melbourne Renegades. Yet in the space of three Sheffield Shield matches, during which his workload was lower than usual, he managed to break down twice.
So he went away and adopted a remodeled action, designed to reduce the stress on his back. Injuries to other quicks then paved the way for Pattinson’s return last summer and he had an immediate impact.
Across four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand he snared 19 wickets at 23, with his strike rate of 38 underlining his rare level of penetration. Then his body betrayed him yet again this March. A shin complaint sent him back into rehab mode, only for doctors to later discover a recurrence of a stress fracture in his back.
Pattinson admitted that in the Tests against the West Indies he had reverted to his old action, in a desperate attempt to regain pace and control. It seems that gamble backfired and now he is out of the game “indefinitely”, as stated on the Cricket Australia website.
“James will continue to spend the winter recovering from this injury, at which point we hope to have a clearer view of timelines for his return to play,” Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley said.
Earlier this year I nominated Pattinson as one of my three cricketers to watch in Tests in 2016. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be 2017, at best, before we again see him in the baggy green.
However, there is now genuine cause for concern that he may never get his body right to play regular first-class cricket.
Many express pacemen suffer injury problems in their teens and early 20s, particularly stress fractures of the back. The ones who go on to have long first-class careers typically overcome those issues by the age of 24 or 25, by which time their bodies have fully matured.
Pattinson looks likely to be pushing 27 years old when he makes his next comeback. Australian fans will be hoping his chassis finally holds up its end of the bargain and allows him to belatedly exploit his generous gifts.