Test hopeful looking to time his run

Australian cricketing folklore has it that every batsman in Premier Cricket around the country is as little as six centuries away from a Baggy Green cap; three for your club side could earn you a state call-up, three more for your state at just the right time could see you ride all the way to the top level.

If this seemingly fanciful prophecy is ever to be fulfilled in the professional era, this could well be the year.

With Australia's batting stocks severely diminished by the fallout to the ball-tampering saga, there's rarely been more uncertainty surrounding the make-up of the Test side's top six.

And for a state cricketer like NSW batsman Kurtis Patterson, he could be just one big innings away from his dream of playing Test cricket.

Image Id: 96B7E231C6764A1EAB97309BD0FB7410 Image Caption: Patterson has been one of the most consistent Shield run-scorers // Getty

A 25-year-old heading into his seventh season of domestic cricket with a first-class average exceeding 40, Patterson is right in the sweet spot for a selection panel desperate to uncover its next batting star.

A frustrating 2017-18 Sheffield Shield season yielded Patterson five half-centuries but no hundreds, stretching his 100s/50s conversion rate to 5/23, a disappointing outcome after he'd flagged in the pre-season it was something he was desperate to address.

But as the only Shield batsman to finish in the top 10 run-scorers in each of the past three summers, selection in the Australia A squad for a third consecutive year underlined what selectors think of him. 

Along with Travis Head, Patterson is one of just two uncapped batsmen in the A squad who will head to India next month for two unofficial Tests that loom as a selection shootout for Australia's series against Pakistan in October.

Coach Justin Langer says the A tour will have a "huge" bearing on which players he will take with him to the UAE, and Patterson knows a big hundred or two against what's expected to be a strong India A side could be all he needs to vault into the Test XI for the first time.

"As batters, we'd be lying if we said there wasn't some opportunities in the Australian team at the moment," Patterson told cricket.com.au. "We're all aware of that.

"I'll be trying to go over there and win games for my team and hopefully score some big runs along the way.

"I enjoy playing spin. Playing at the SCG, we've got the wickets that are the closest (in Australia) to what you're going to get in the subcontinent.

"It will obviously spin a bit earlier and spin for longer, so it's going to be really exciting to get over there and see what we can do as a team."

While the conditions in India will be relatively foreign to Patterson, the situation he'll find himself in won't.

The left-hander has been part of the 'next-in-line' conversation before, particularly in the wake of the tumultuous 2016 Hobart Test against South Africa, and in the lead-up to last summer's Ashes campaign.

But on both occasions, he couldn't quite get his timing right.

In 2016, it was Peter Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw who timed their runs beautifully by notching big totals when it mattered to jump into the Test side, where they were joined by Patterson's former state teammate, Nic Maddinson.

And last year it was Cameron Bancroft who put forward an irresistible case at just the right moment when those seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order – including Patterson – failed to take their chances.

The fact the A series will come at the tail-end of cricket's off-season means the media glare from the previous two summers won't be anywhere near as intense for the two four-day games in the coastal city of Vizag.

In any case, Patterson says a valuable lesson he learned in his first full season of professional cricket means he always tries to block out the noise.

"One of the biggest learnings for me in my career (came) in my first year in the state squad, which was probably the worst year of cricket I've ever had," he says.

"I was constantly doing everything I could to get into the state team and my club cricket got affected. I wasn't scoring runs because I was continuously thinking about the next level.

Image Id: 648C26F58AB046A6B2074FDEB673EAD6 Image Caption: Patterson scored five fifties but no hundreds last Shield season // Getty

"From that moment, I've learnt that it generally doesn't help to be thinking about things that are outside your control.

"One of the things I try and focus on now is ... the team I'm playing with and trying to win that game of cricket.

"It's a bit stereotypical and cliche, but you can't control what the selectors are doing.

"You can only control doing your job."

Patterson's job, in the short term, is to show what he can do against the turning ball, which has so often been kryptonite for even the most accomplished Australian batsmen and is sure to be a constant threat during the Pakistan Tests.

In these most unusual of circumstances, with at least three Test batting spots suddenly vacant, a big hundred and a gritty fifty in India could be enough to get him on the plane to the UAE. A double century would just about seal it.

Like Bancroft, Handscomb and co before him, he just has to time it right.

Australia A Tour of India

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Matthew Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain, Jack Wildermuth

Schedule

One-day fixtures in Vijayawada

17 August v India A

19 August v South Africa A

21 August v India B

23 August v India A

25 August v South Africa A

27 August v India B

29 August - Quad-Series Final

Australia A four-day squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Michael Neser, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain

Four-day fixtures in Vizag

2-5 September v India A

8-11 September v India A