COVERED WINTER 2019

COVERED 26 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK it didn’t dishearten me as I still enjoyed what cricket was about and I was still learning every time I picked up a bat or ball,” says Patterson-White. “Luckily I got in the following year and I’ve been involved ever since.” Cricket was allowing Patterson-White to fulfil his insatiable need to be involved in any given moment on a sporting field, something he carries with him to this day. If he didn’t perform with the ball, he’d aim to put that right with the bat. If both main disciplines failed him, he’d attempt to do something spectacular in the field for his team. Football, on the other hand, had got its plan for the teenager all wrong. “At 13 I had to make the decision as to whether to play cricket or football, which at that age isn’t an easy thing to do,” he recalls. “In football I was quite an attacking player and I used to play right wing, but because of my size they decided to move me to centre back. “After that I didn’t enjoy it as much as cricket. “The thrill of cricket is that it is very unpredictable. Every ball is a new event. “There are endless possibilities and that’s where the enjoyment factor comes from – and being able to know that I can perform at the level I have done this year heightens those factors.” Cricket had beaten football to the high- ly-sought-after attention of Patterson-White. However, the journey that led to his debut against Somerset in July, in itself a rollercoaster week involving illness and a maiden five-wicket haul, hasn’t been without its challenges. “There were always aspirations, no matter what I was doing, to be the best I could possibly be at it,” says Patterson-White. “When I had to make the decision between the two sports, it wasn’t necessarily about trying to become a professional. “It was more because I enjoyed the sport more. “It was when I got onto the Academy a year or two later, that I realised I had got the chance of making it and wanted to pursue it full time. “Fast-forward to the start of this summer and I felt like I was at the stage of my career when I really needed to kick on. “I got my first 100 of the season and Ant (Botha, Second XI Head Coach) said to me ‘don’t stop’. “From there I put in consistent performances and for me to be able to go and do what I have done this season is really pleasing.” So what of his debut down at Taunton? A track renowned for being friendly to spin bowlers over the past couple of sum- “THE THRILL OF CRICKET IS THAT IT’S VERY UNPREDICTABLE. EVERY BALL IS A NEW EVENT.” Liam Patterson-White