James Pattinson picked up two wickets in his return from injury on Saturday and he wasn't the only familiar name making an impact on club cricket
Pattinson makes successful comeback
James Pattinson made a successful return to competitive bowling on Saturday after a long injury lay-off, capturing two wickets for Victorian Premier Cricket side Dandenong.
The 26-year-old bowled just six overs in his first foray back into competitive cricket since breaking down with shin stress problems during Australia's tour of New Zealand in February, which was followed by the reoccurrence of a back injury.
Pattinson, whose workloads were “strictly modified” for the match, according to Cricket Victoria, didn't open the bowling against Prahran but bowled opener Arjun Dhull during his second over before later claiming a second wicket.
He finished with 2-14 from his two three-over spells as Prahran were dismissed for 130, before proving just as handy with the bat in scoring 44 off 49 balls.
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The fiery right-armer was just one of a long list of state players who turned out for their club sides around Australia on Saturday, with players enjoying a 10-day break between Sheffield Shield matches.
Fellow Bushranger Peter Handscomb starred for St Kilda in their clash with Greenvale, scoring an unbeaten 105 from just 89 deliveries, while Glenn Maxwell (3-38) impressed for Fitzroy-Doncaster.
Aaron Finch ended the day unbeaten on 39 for Geelong in their pursuit of Casey-South Melbourne's 244.
In Sydney, Moises Henriques scored a half-century for St George in their clash with Gordon, while fellow Blues batsman Kurtis Patterson was dismissed for 28 in the same match.
Chris Green scored was in fine form with bat and ball for Northern District, scoring an unbeaten 127 and taking 4-97, with club teammate and Blues batsman Daniel Hughes scoring 43 in the same match.
Nick Larkin scored a century for Sydney University, while Doug Bollinger and Gurinder Sandhu picked up two wickets apiece for Fairfield-Liverpool against Campbelltown-Camden.
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In Brisbane, in-form Bulls batsman Marnus Labuschagne opened the bowling for Redlands, taking 3-27 from 16 overs of medium-pace against Wynnum-Manly, including the wicket of state teammate Jason Floros (15), while Matt Renshaw scored 52 as Toombul made 5-242 against Sunshine Coast.
In Adelaide, Adam Zampa shone with the bat for East Torrens, scoring 69 from 87 deliveries, but teammate Jake Lehmann did not far so well, dismissed for a duck by Redbacks teammate Travis Head, who finished with 3-55 from his 20 overs.
Former South Australia Mark Cosgrove starred for Northern Districts, scoring 172, while Nick Benton collected 5-83 in the same match.
Veteran spinner Brad Hogg was the pick of the bunch in Perth, taking 3-68 for Willetton against South Perth.
The next round of Shield matches get underway on Thursday with Victoria to take on NSW in Sydney, Queensland to host South Australia at the Gabba and Tasmania travelling to Perth to face Western Australia.