Pattinson again primed for trip to the summit

The last time Australia's Test team took itself to the top of the world it was James Pattinson – filling in for his Victorian friend and teammate Peter Siddle – who helped carry a sizeable load to get them there.

With the three-Test series of 2014 against the then top-ranked South Africans on their home tracks locked at 1-1, Pattinson was brought into the playing XI for the decider in Cape Town after Siddle was deemed to be down on pace at the back end of another long summer.

Pattinson had spent almost eight months absent from international cricket after suffering a recurrence of stress fractures in his back during the Ashes campaign of the previous year, which meant his capacity to withstand the rigours of a Test workload in such a vital game were unknown.

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But with the heavyweight title on the line and no Test cricket on the horizon for seven months, the national selectors and Australia’s cricket brainstrust opted to make the switch and Pattinson came into a game that proved as brutal as it was epic on an attritional final day.

Where the Proteas put up their now famous 'closed for business' sign and attempted to dead-bat an entire day of 90 overs, knowing they had just six wickets up their sleeve entering day five and victory lay beyond reach at 440 runs away.

Pattinson's effort in that fourth innings – which has been all-but overshadowed by an almost crippled Ryan Harris's heroic final over in which he fired out South Africa’s last two batsmen to claim victory – has been too readily overlooked.

His 2-62 from 27 overs included the vital wicket of Hashim Amla that set-up Australia's final-day charge, as well as night watchman Kyle Abbott who had hung around for almost two hours.

Image Id: ~/media/A8E6A55E2C9946FC86E95EB54D678C58 Image Caption: Got him! Pattinson dismisses Hashim Amla in 2014 // Getty Images

And there was the unstinting pace and aggression he found through the nagging pain of another back injury that was to ultimately cost him another 18 months of Test cricket.

Now, in hauntingly similar circumstances, Pattinson is again earmarked to replace Siddle (himself a victim of back soreness) in a Test match that sees Australia on the cusp of claiming the world’s number one ranking.

For the first time since they held it briefly in the wake of that gripping series win in South Africa two years ago.

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And despite ongoing shin soreness that led him to miss several weeks of cricket immediately after the rained-out New Year Test against the West Indies, Pattinson feels he is as ready to return as at any stage of his frustratingly staccato Test tenure.

"I got through a fair bit, I think I bowled close to 35 overs last week in the nets,” Pattinson said prior to Australia’s main pre-Test training session in Christchurch when asked if he had sufficient recent bowling under his belt to make it through a crucial five-day game.

"So I'm full of confidence now, knowing I can get through this game, and it was pleasing because in the nets I probably bowled the best I have over the last six months.

"I'm starting to feel really good with my action, and physically I felt really good too.

"I probably wasn't really happy with where I was releasing the ball from (earlier in the summer).

"I was probably a bit lower than I have been in the past, so it was about getting nice and tall again and releasing the ball from that high position - more from where I started, when I did come on the (Test) scene.

"Now it's feeling really comfortable. I'm swinging the ball late, which is good, and getting back to some good pace as well."

That time when he first arrived on the international scene, back in December 2011 as a 21-year-old, also carries some historic synchronicity heading into the second and final Test against the Black Caps at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval beginning on Saturday.

That's because Pattinson's debut Test saw him unleash a storm against unsuspecting New Zealand batsmen including their current top-order mainstays Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson from which he collected second innings figures of 5-27 and man-of-the-match honours.

Which might, in concert with Black Caps coach Mike Hesson’s public request for a green, grassy pitch to assist seam bowlers in the coming Test, explain why the 25-year-old claimed he and his fellow quicks are "licking our lips" ahead of his first overseas Test since that Cape Town match two years ago.

"As fast bowlers we've had to work hard for our wickets over the last six months in Australia, the wickets have been quite flat," Pattinson said today.

"We come over here and we've got some green wickets.

"We're licking our lips, which is great.

"I know all the bowlers are pretty pumped and I think the green wicket should play into our hands pretty well, hopefully."

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Those hard, flat pitches served up in Australia have not only left an ache in many a fast bowler’s heart, Pattinson has cited them as the reason for the shin soreness that saw him rested after a successful return Test against the West Indies up until he played half a Sheffield Shield match for Victoria earlier this month.

His return to top-level cricket was carefully managed, and he revealed today that his selection for this Test tour to NZ was made with a view to having him fit for the second Test.

Although had he proved himself ready to play in the series opener at Wellington last week it would have been "a bonus".

But the lush, green outfield and evenly grassed wicket block at Hagley, the ground that has been established in the heart of the Garden City’s expansive public parklands after Test cricket’s former Christchurch home (Lancaster Park) was ruined by the 2011 earthquake, should offer greater comfort.

Image Id: ~/media/4E5C17AF9DED4502BE37DB16E9DB974A Image Caption: Nathan Lyon takes a peek at the Hagley Oval wicket // Getty Images 

For bowlers if not batters.

"I've had sore shins for a while," Pattinson said.

"With the grounds in Australia the wickets have been really hard.

"I've had sore shins for most of the year and it probably just got a little bit worse, and I think with shins it's just about managing them.

"If you do keep playing with them they can obviously turn into fractures, which is something I didn't want to happen.

"A little break (from cricket) hopefully holds me in good shape for the upcoming games and obviously further after that."

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The inclusion of Pattinson for Siddle, who was an inactive part of today’s training session but will remain with the squad until they return to Australia next week, is expected to be the only change to Steve Smith’s XI in Christchurch.

The Black Caps, who will be roused not so much by their opportunity to deny Australia the top Test ranking as their will to farewell skipper McCullum from international cricket as a winner, are also compelled to make at least one change.

Left-arm seamer Neil Wagner is tipped to replace injured pace bowler Doug Bracewell in the starting XI, although the decidedly faster Matt Henry might come into calculations if the wicket is as green as Hesson has requested given Henry boasts some impressive form on the newly laid Hagley track.