STEVE PATTERSON has revealed a desire to play in a Lord’s final is fuelling his ambition to figure in more limited overs cricket for Yorkshire this summer.
The 30-year-old fast bowler has been largely limited to County Championship outings in recent times, with the White Rose hierarchy seeing him as a linchpin of their red ball attack.
He has only played seven List A and six Twenty20 matches - all his Twenty20 appearances were at the Champions League in South Africa in 2012 - during Jason Gillespie’s two seasons in charge.
“The feedback I’ve been given for the last couple of years is that Championship cricket’s a priority, and they’ve seen me as a mainstay of that side,” explained Patterson.
It appears the workload on the fast bowlers will ease somewhat with the Royal London One-day Cup not starting until July 26 when the NatWest T20 Blast is all but finished.
“I certainly want to play more. I want to play all three forms as often as I can.”
“I didn’t get much opportunity last year for one reason or another, which was out of my hands. But the 50-over competition is in a bit of a block towards the end of the summer, and maybe it’s something we can focus more on.
“From the scheduling point of view, we shouldn’t have to worry about Championship cricket quite as much, so maybe I’ll get a bit more opportunity.
“I want to play in a Lord’s final because I’ve never done it. That’s something I want to push towards.
“I think when I have played, certainly in one-day cricket, my one-day performances have been as good as anybody’s.”
Patterson is currently with Yorkshire on their pre-season tour of Sri Lanka. They finished a two-day intra-squad friendly yesterday, with Gary Ballance and Rich Pyrah captaining the two teams.
Patterson scored an unbeaten 50 and opener Adam Lyth hit 111 in a Ballance XI score of 293-9 declared on day one at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The wickets were shared around.
The Pyrah XI yesterday replied with 228-2. Openers Dan Hodgson hit 90 and York’s Jack Leaning 50 before Adil Rashid smashed an unbeaten 68.
Patterson took one wicket.
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