Cricket: Is Kurtis Patterson Australia’s VVS Laxman?

Australia’s cricket selectors have rightly copped their fair share of criticism this summer. But this time, they’ve got it right.

In-form Kurtis Patterson will make his Test debut later this week. Picture: AAP

Kurtis Patterson’s addition to the Australian squad for the Day/Night Test match in Brisbane starting on Thursday is a good one.

The selection panel of Trevor Hohns, Greg Chappell and Justin Langer may well be criticised for going outside the original group named. I don’t buy that suggestion.

The only fault, if there is one, was the selectors naming the initial squad for the two-Test series so early, particularly prior to the start of the tour match in Hobart that saw Patterson put forward such an undeniable case.

I’m told in this day and age it’s a logistics thing. I’m guessing Cricket Australia need time to plan the travel, accommodation and all else that goes into getting a team on the track. If this is so, I don’t buy that one either.

When playing at home, on Australian shores, I have always believed the national selection panel has a squad of at least 66 Sheffield Shield players to make their selections from, whenever they feel the need.

Of course the first-class competition has been on hold for some time for reasons we all know, which only made the tour match against the Sri Lankans in Hobart even more important — an opportunity to look at many possible players.

Kurtis Patterson scored a century for a Cricket Australia XI against Sri Lanka last week. Picture: Getty Images

Well done to the selectors for making the adjustment and allowing good old common sense to prevail. The message has been loud and strong all summer, even before it all began; hundreds are the currency. Score them and you will be in the game. No one did in the entire Test series against India. Patterson scored three in just over a week. He’s in the game. And the tourists won’t be pleased.

I recall back in India in 2001, we played India A in a tour match in preparation for the upcoming series.

VVS Laxman was being considered to bat at number six in the Test series, and captained against us in the warm-up match. He batted beautifully, scoring 94 and was duly selected for the first Test in Mumbai.

With scores of 20 and 12, he wasn’t the only Indian batsman to fall short as we won by 10 wickets and powered to Kolkata on the back of 16 Test wins in a row and feeling invincible.

We again ripped through their top order first time around at Eden Gardens, however Laxman was last man out for a clever 59.

Sensing a moment, an opportunity, the captain Sourav Ganguly, in consultation with his selectors, elevated VVS up to number three in the second innings. An innings of 281 turned the Test match and the series on its head and India closed it out in the third Test in Chennai on the back of two half centuries from the elegant right-hander.

Kurtis Patterson acknowledges his teammates. Picture: Getty Images

Patterson has plenty of supporters and when asked of his attributes and strengths, terms like consistent, strong temperament and solid technique are thrown around.

His innings to become the first player to score a first-class century at the Perth Stadium in November was one of great skill and immense patience on a very challenging pitch.

Also featuring that day was a man who will most likely debut alongside Patterson on Thursday, Jhye Richardson, who picked up eight wickets and showed strong evidence of pace and swing.

Richardson of course toured in the Test squad on the ill-fated South African tour last summer, but continues to grow and develop before our very eyes in each outing.

He was on the receiving end of some harsh lessons in the UK as part of the back-up bowling group when the main bowlers were rested on the one-day tour that Australia lost 5-0.

But he looks like a kid who takes these lessons in, discards the elements of no interest and clings on to the little jewels of knowledge that will help build the foundation of a successful career.

Whether Will Pucovski receives his first cap this week remains to be seen, however his selection in the squad is a tremendous acknowledgment of how highly he is rated and will only fuel the fire that burns within. Keep an eye on Pucovski’s Sheffield Shield scorecards post Big Bash, as even just being involved around the nation’s top men’s cricket team is like your favourite chocolate; once you have a taste, you just want more and more.

My gut feel is that Joe Burns will get the nod at the top of the order, ahead of his Queensland teammate Matt Renshaw.

Weight of runs in the opening stanza of the Shield season will win out, thus allowing Usman Khawaja the chance to slip back down to number three and Marnus Labuschange to four.

Renshaw is a fine young player, who I’m certain will fulfil a very decent career at the highest level. He does score hundreds; indeed his highest first-class score is 184 in a Test match in Sydney. He’s just not doing it at the moment.

Like Patterson’s century in Perth, for now, Renshaw needs patience.