Darren Pattinson      

After years of toiling away for Dandenong in Melbourne's club cricket, higher honours appeared to have permanently eluded Darren Pattinson until, in July 2008, he was sensationally plucked from obscurity to make his Test debut for the land of his birth, England, against South Africa at Headingley. It was a bewilderingly rapid promotion for a man who had played only 11 first-class matches in his entire career, and who at the time was only two weeks shy of his 29th birthday. That weekend, he had been planning to take his kids to Alton Towers. However, an injury to Ryan Sidebottom - and doubts about the enduring effectiveness of Matthew Hoggard - led England's selectors to trawl the shires for a tall and accurate new-ball bowler who could be relied upon to hit the deck and extract some swing at a good pace. Pattinson's season stats, 29 wickets at 20.86 for Nottinghamshire, brooked no argument, although the fact that he had not been a permanent resident in England since leaving his hometown of Grimsby at the age of six might have counted against him. As it turned out, he performed creditably with 2 for 95 in South Africa's first innings, but England's ten-wicket drubbing meant he vanished from view almost as quickly as he had risen in the first place. That rise had begun in November 2006 when a spate of injuries struck down Victoria's frontline fast bowlers. At 27, the uncontracted Pattinson made his Pura Cup, limited-overs and Twenty20 debuts, and his job as a roof-tiler took a backseat as he claimed 4 for 87 in his maiden first-class match against South Australia. His efforts earned him a state contract for 2007-08, and though he was only used twice in Pura Cup games in his second season, Pattinson was recommended to Nottinghamshire by his colleague, David Hussey. The rest quickly passed into history.
Andrew Miller September 2009