James Pattinson goes to hell and back on way to MCG return
James Pattinson has been likened to intimidating West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose as he prepares for his Boxing Day comeback.
James Pattinson has been likened to intimidating West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose as he prepares for his Boxing Day Test comeback.
South African great Dale Steyn reckons Pattinson is a beast straight out of an era when big, strapping bowlers would puff out their chests and bowl rockets.
“He storms in, runs in, bowls hard and he’s in your face,” Steyn said. “That’s what old fast bowlers were like when I was growing up, like the Ambroses and (Allan) Donalds, and he epitomises that.
“But the game has also moved on a lot. We’re at a point now where you need to deliver skill, and I think he’s got that — both the aggression and the skill.”
Pattinson is tired of being the cotton wool kid and believes he is on the verge of becoming a robust campaigner. Four years after his past Boxing Day Test, the MCG attack dog is still spurred on by the heartbreak years of being cut down by injury when he was Australia’s No 1 spearhead at 23.
In no time at all he went from being arguably the top seed of a once-in-a-generation crop of new talent — including Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc — to facing the prospect of never playing Test cricket again.
Pattinson said his Ashes return was a moment of profound relief just 18 months after spinal surgery that had the potential to end his career.
Before that series the 29-year-old went three years when he bowled more than 20 overs in an innings just four times.
Since then it’s happened seven times in six games.
But Pattinson doesn’t feel his comeback to Test cricket will be complete until Australia feel comfortable enough to once again let him completely off the leash.
Selectors baulked at playing Pattinson back-to-back in the Ashes and in the end he only played two Tests.
“It’s all a build-up,” Pattinson said. “I think I will get to a point in the not-too-distant future where if I’m playing well and my body is feeling good and similar to Patty (Cummins) … you just keep playing.
“After everything I had been through with my back, you’re not sure if you’ll get back to playing Test cricket or playing cricket at all. Six years ago (I was ruled out of the 2013 Ashes with a back injury) and that was hard to take. I was only 23 at that stage and I was opening the bowling and leading the attack.
“For my back to cark it, and then every time I would go again, the same thing would happen. It was frustrating because every time I came back I would get a little bit further and get months in and then my back would pack it in and I’d be in rehab again.
“Just getting picked in that Ashes team and getting selected in the first Test and winning it was a really good moment. That’s something I was pretty proud of — to say I got back after having such a big setback. I’ve ticked that box so to speak, and now (it’s time to) re-evaluate and work on the plan now going forward.”
Victorian coach Lachie Stevens says Pattinson has been to hell and back. “Whether he went through moments where he thought, ‘That’s it, I’m done’, I can’t tell you, but no one would blame him if he did have those thoughts,” Stevens said.
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