James Pattinson

A tall and strong fast bowler, James Pattinson came out in the 2010s as one of Australia’s best-emerging seamers. Pattinson played in the 2008 U-19 World Cup which turned out to be a tournament that became the springboard for many future international stars. 

The rapid seamer didn’t get many chances early on in four-day cricket due to a strong Victorian bowling attack but he impressed in both 2009-10 and 2010-11 Domestic One-Day Cups with 13 and 10 wickets respectively. These performances saw the Australian selectors reward him with an ODI call-up for the tour of Bangladesh immediately after the ODI World Cup had concluded.

Pattinson was also given a Cricket Australia contract in the same year despite having played only six First-class matches until then. This showed how highly rated Pattinson was even in his early 20s and a Test soon came up against New Zealand at the Gabba in December 2011. He got a fantastic introduction to the longest format of the game with a five-wicket haul on debut including a match haul of 6-91. 

He then followed it up with yet another five-wicket haul in the first innings of the second Test match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The good run of form continued in the series against India where he picked up 11 wickets in two Tests. Pattinson’s underrated batting ability was also on show in the Test at Melbourne wherein he scored 55 runs in the match giving hope to a future all-round prospect.

An injury lay-off meant that Pattinson managed to only play three Tests before his comeback in the away series against India in early 2013. Although he did pick a five-wicket haul in the first Test at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the returns dried up later on in the series. The tour was also marred by the ‘Home-work Gate’ controversy which saw the then Australian coach Mickey Arthur dropping Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, and Pattinson himself from the 3rd Test at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. 

Following this series, Pattinson made two appearances in the 2013 Ashes tour in England but had to return home due to injury. Yet another time away from the game until he returned for the home series against West Indies in late 2015. Following the Test match against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in February 2016, Pattinson was out of the game for a massive period of time once again as he went under the knife for a lower spine injury. 

Pattinson returned to the game for the 2018-19 season and he forced his way to the 2019 Ashes squad through some strong performances for Victoria earlier in the year. He then played the home Test series against New Zealand before covid-19 brought international cricket to a standstill. 

Over the years, Pattinson has also represented T20 franchises including stints in the IPL. He was first picked by Kolkata Knight Riders way back in 2011 for $100K but injury kept him out of the tournament. Luckily, Pattinson finally made it to the IPL when Mumbai Indians picked him as a replacement for Lasith Malinga for the 2020 season.

At 30 years of age, the prime years might have been gone but the Victorian seamer will want to maximize whatever is left both in international and franchise cricket. An interesting fact about him is that his brother Darren Pattinson represented arch-rivals England in international cricket.