Well, 24 hours after my blog criticising the Australian selectors for picking fast bowlers with little more than five minutes' first-class cricket experience, blow me but debutant James Pattinson romped through the New Zealand top order to set up a nine-wicket victory.
For this alone I must swallow my pride and make him my Player of the Week! Of course, the 21 year-old Victorian made some sort of history just by turning up; he and older brother Darren became the first siblings for more than a century to play Test cricket for different countries. Mind you, when after a useful start to the season for Nottinghamshire, Grimsby-born Darren was picked for England at Headingley, he had played only 11 first-class games and was almost 29 years old. He took the wickets of Amla and Prince but hasn't played a Test since and quite frankly never will in the future. Let's hope James' international career lasts longer and having taken 6-91, including the decisive 5-27 in the second innings, I'm sure it will.
It started ominously enough when his first over went for thirteen runs and his only wicket came courtesy of a ludicrous swish across the line by Ross Taylor. However, on what became the final day, he bowled beautifully to wreck New Zealand's top five, including three wickets in four balls. Nathan Lyons' match figures of 7-88 were also pretty impressive and skipper Michael Clarke weighed in with another century as the Aussies enjoyed another Brisbane success.
Pattinson's was not the only notable performance by a bowler this week. Shahid Afridi was up to his usual tricks in ODIs, taking wickets and hitting sixes for Pakistan. In the big Zimbabwe T20 competition, Somerset all-rounder Peter Trego also had a productive week for the Eagles, for whom Chris Gayle and Ryan Ten Doeschate also struck some awesome hundreds. At Visakhapatnam, Ravi Rampaul made history in the ODI against India, bu not as a bowler. His rampaging 86 not out in 66 balls was the highest ever in ODIs by a number ten batsman, as was his total of six sixes. However, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ensured the home team emerged victorious. Back to Australia, Daniel Christian nudged the Test selectors with a good all-round game for South Australia in the Shield but 18 year-old Kurtis Patterson made it an even better week for debutants, striking 157 for NSW in his first ever senior innings. Based on recent decision-making, he'll probably be in the Test team next week!
