John Pattinson holds up a picture of his son’s greatest cricketing moment, when James took a five-wicket haul on debut for Australia last week. 74626
By Jarrod Potter
JOHN Pattinson speaks vividly about every moment he has watched his boys, Darren and James, play cricket.
Pattinson was in the stands watching James debut for Australia at the Gabba, not missing a moment of his son’s crowning moment when he took 5/27 and removed any possibility of a New Zealand fight back.
That amazing moment was almost undone by the decision of a schoolboys’ selector in 2005 when James was omitted from the Victorian schoolboys’ team and almost left cricket for good.
“He thought he made the under-15s schoolboys and then he got told about nine o’clock at night that he never made it and was going to give cricket away,” John said.
“He went to bed and he was cracking the s…., but when he got up in the morning he was really positive, and that’s how he’s been since then.
“The next morning he got up and said ‘Dad I’m going to do it… I’m going to show them I’m a good cricketer’ and I think he’s starting to do that now.
John said his son has never looked at a problem the same way since then, seeing opportunity for development in potentially bad situations, such as the reoccurrence of stress fractures in his back over the last few seasons.
“Even through the stress fractures in his back, he’s still been very, very positive,” John said.
“It’s like he said, it wasn’t a setback, it was just his body telling him he had to strengthen his body up to be able to bowl the rigours of first class cricket.
“He said it was a good thing it happened while he was younger. So now he’s built himself up into a big boy now, and hopefully he doesn’t have any more trouble with his back.”
Flash forward a few years and James received his baggy green from former Australian Test bowler and current national selector Andy Bichel and is about to charge in for his first ball in Test cricket, taking the new ball with fellow Dandenong Panthers bowler Peter Siddle.
“The first day when he bowled the first time was nerve-wracking,” John said about his son’s first over, which went for 13 runs as Brendan McCullum hit three boundaries.
“He did alright, bowled a few full balls and got hit in his first over, but he still kept bowling the same and did alright.
“We spoke on the first day after he bowled the first over, and he said he wasn’t nervous bowling the first over, but his second over he was really nervous.
“He didn’t want to get hit for anymore runs… he didn’t. He still bowled the same, full and just outside off.”
Those nerves had washed away after claiming his first Test scalp, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor, had a bat then came out late on the third night and knocked off Brendan McCullum.
“But the day after we went out for tea and he took that wicket of McCullum at the end and he said he wasn’t one bit nervous,” he said.
“He said that on the fourth morning he didn’t have a nervous switch in the body when he took the wickets.
“I was probably more nervous than what he was the last few days.”
James bowled like a man without a worry in the world on the fourth morning, claiming his wickets through superb line-and-length bowling you’d expect of a 50-Test veteran and not of a debutant.
The crowd had barely turned over the turnstiles to witness James’ achievement, with the match starting early on account of losing overs because of bad light.
“There wasn’t many at all,” John said about the crowd at the Gabba that fateful morning.
“There was a bit of noise, but not as much as last year when Pete (Siddle) took his hat-trick, it was just unbelievable.
“But this was good enough. James came in and ripped shreds out of New Zealand and at one point was on a hat-trick.
“Didn’t really register… it wasn’t about the hat-trick, It was more or less that he had to bowl a decent ball, which he did.
“I wasn’t really worried about the hat-trick.
“It was good… he nearly did get the hat-trick, only missed by a tiny amount.
“It was really good and I enjoyed every minute of it.”
Darren was in the stands with his dad for most of the Test, but missed James’ grand moment.
“Over the moon, he loved it,” John said about Darren’s joy for James’ achievement.
“Darren was there too, but he wasn’t there when he got the wickets on Sunday morning. But he was rapt for him, he always has been for him.”
Darren was a guiding cricketing force in James’ development according to John, with Darren going on gut-feel to take James down to Shepley Oval to try out for the Dandenong Panthers at 13.
“He got James down there early which was a really good thing,” John said.
“I thought he was a little bit too young, but thinking back now it was a good thing.”
Having watched both his sons rise through the ranks of cricket and play at the peak of the sport; Darren for England in 2008 and now James. John has loved seeing his boys enjoy cricket.
“It’s all been a pleasure,” John said.
“The whole time they’ve been playing I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
“I’ve always loved watching, but I never played much.
“I didn’t like playing… but I love watching cricket.”
The international realm of cricket is worlds removed from Robinson Reserve in Doveton where the boys first plied their craft, but John has loved being at grounds across the width and breadth of the country to watch his lads play the game they all love.
