Steven Patterson is a tall seamer who has been a largely unsung, but important, components of the Yorkshire side which by winning back-to-back Championships in 2014 and 2015 finally fulfilled its potential. Hull has not produced many Yorkshire cricketers, but in Patterson the city had delivered a rangy seam bowler whose steadying influence and reliability won much professional respect. "Patto does what Patto does," his coach Jason Gillespie was fond of saying, respect for a bowler who pounded a reliable length, nipping the ball around at a pace short of 80mph.

He made his Yorkshire debut in 2005 against Bangladesh A, receiving his second XI cap the following year. He began to show evidence of his ability at senior level in 2009 and, when Ajmal Shahzad and Tim Bresnan were away on England duty in the early part of the 2010 season, Patterson seized the opportunity to impress. He finished the summer with 45 first-class victims at 26.68 as well as taking five wickets in 11 balls (a career-best 6-32 in all) to see off a Derbyshire challenge in a 40-over tie. After the season finished, Patterson ran the New York Marathon to raise money for the British Lung Foundation following the deaths of two cousins to lung disease.

Patterson's 2011 season was hampered by injuries and proved less successful, yielding only 21 wickets at 46.33 from 11 first-class matches, but he returned to his best and perhaps beyond in 2012 when he responded to being left out at the start of the season amid extra competition for places by topping 50 first-class wickets for the first time in his career as Yorkshire's leading wicket-taker as they achieved promotion to Division One a year after being relegated.

That improvement continued: Patterson's 48 Championship wickets at 20.81 included a career-best match haul of 8 for 94 in a comprehensive win over Leicestershire at Scarborough in May and were double the amount taken by any of his colleagues. He confirmed his reliability with similar returns in the two Championship seasons that followed, the settling influence in a powerful Yorkshire attack. When he took a career-best 6 for 56 at Chester-le-Street in 2016, it encapsulated his career - a commendably stingy performance with somebody else (in this case the England wannabe Scott Borthwick, in a dismal run of form) getting most of the attention.

One of his finest career innings went a long way towards sparing Yorkshire relegation in 2017: Patterson made 44 not out from 96 for 7 to see off Warwickshire, preventing Yorkshire from sliding into the bottom two with only a game remaining. Andrew Gale, as his captain had called him "the first name on the teamsheet." Gale was now coach and, at 33, Patterson was no longer so sure of selection, but he had proved his worth in unlikely fashion.

ESPNcricinfo staff