Last winter, Nottinghamshire’s James Pattinson had domestic cricket experts commentating on the prospect of Australia unleashing the fast-bowling equivalent of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Pattinson. All fast, furious and offering different variety to the attack.
But it wasn’t to be, as Pattinson was ruled out few months before the start of the Ashes series for the entire 2017-18 season. Seeing his teammates getting wickets at will against a weak England side and regaining the Ashes must have made him want some of it.
After all, the Ashes are the pinnacle of Test cricket for Australian or English players. Nothing can top the glory of representing your country in the Ashes, much less winning the series and getting the urn.
But being a fast bowler has its pros and cons and unfortunately for Pattinson, most of the time he has been breaking down from the workload.
He had a fantastic start to his career picking up five wickets at home against visiting New Zealand and India back in 2011-12 and was the best bowler when Australia toured India in 2013.
But strings of injuries meant all momentum he had gathered couldn’t be carried forward, and hence he often would end up missing matches.
He did play a vital role in the third Test against South Africa in 2014 coming on in place of Peter Siddle in the victory because he was able to make a useful contribution.
His injuries have meant he hasn’t been able to add to his 17 Test caps. After the comeback following his fifth back surgery, he looks positive and has already started working in the gym as he wants to work out a complete season for Victoria.
To add to it, he wants to be back as an allrounder, as he feels that would help his cause in getting in the team. No doubt he can bat and has shown promise of his batting talent in few Tests matches he played.
With Cricket Australia, who have backed Pattinson all throughout, supporting him he looks to eye the 2019 Ashes in England and help the team win series in the UK, something they haven’t done in a long time.
It’s still 16 months to go before the 2019 Ashes start, but he seems to be laser-focused on the event and will look to tick off all boxes that would help him get the ticket for the tour. With his surgery appearing to remove all fracture lines, Pattinson will be hoping to make up for all lost time and take out all frustration on his opponents in the coming time.
We have seen how fast he can be but can he stay in the park this time for a prolonged duration to terrorise the batsmen? Only time will tell.
But he can certainly take inspiration from Pat Cummins, who after a series of blows managed to play in all nine Tests for Australia last year.
Time out no doubt stings, but that’s part and parcel of a cricketer’s life, and Pattinson has to put the disappointment of his previous years behind him and come back rejuvenated.
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