James Pattinson concedes he couldn't push his body to carry on despite Pat Cummins' persuasion

When the Australian pacer James Pattinson announced retirement from Test cricket earlier last month, there was a sense of disappointment among his fans and people who have tracked his journey since his debut in 2011. However, the Victorian has a different perspective to his life as a Test career and instead of ruing not having a prolonged career, he is cherishing the fact that he played the longest format for his country and is thankful for the opportunity.

Pattinson made his Test debut against New Zealand in 2011 at the Gabba and promised a long and successful career for Australia. However, recurrent injuries derailed his journey more often than not and he spent more time outside of the Test squad than playing the game, and hence he knew his time was up before quitting the longest format.

He said that Pat Cummins, whom he rated as one of “closest mates” in the Australian team tried to persuade him to take back the retirement decision but he was aware of the fact that the “point where you try and push and you can't push anymore” has arrived for him.

"I'm pretty close with Pat Cummins, probably one of my closest mates in the team, and I rang him before I did it and he said 'is there any way I can convince you to stay?'," Pattinson said. "I said, 'to be honest I've made the decision and I'm relieved, then he was just supportive of it and everyone else was as well. It's nice people want you around, but it's a decision I made with my family. It's nice to feel like you'll be missed,” Pattinson said.

"You can say I should probably have played more Tests but I'm thankful to just have the opportunity to represent my country and I'd like to think every time I went out that I gave everything," he said. "I've broken my back about seven times to try and play for Australia so that's the toll it takes and there comes a point where you try and push and you can't push anymore. I probably wouldn't change a thing, it's been an amazing journey and now I can move on to the next stage and enjoy that as well.”

Pattinson, along with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins made their Test debut around the same time in the year 2011. Pattinson played his debut Test after only nine first-class matches while Cummins played his debut Test against South Africa in Johannesburg as an 18-year-old before not playing the format for a six-year-long gap.

Pattinson conceded that he was pushed at the highest level before his body was matured for the workload it had to deal with and it could well have contributed to his back not strengthening enough to take the load with experience.

He said that the Australian team have better management of pace bowlers now than they had at his time and called the handling of the fitness and workload of his mate Cummins as a “blueprint” on how to handle pacers.

"I was put in the position where I was probably a little ahead of my body, being thrown into the Test arena and doing well. Went from not playing to being the lead bowler in four or five Tests. That was the hardest thing, obviously, my body wasn't ready for that. It has probably contributed to my back being the way it is,” Pattinson asserted.

"They've changed the way they manage players a bit now," Pattinson said. "The way they've handled Pat Cummins is probably the blueprint for how you handle your bowlers. What they did for him is fantastic."