The Ashes: England defeat made me cry, says Australia’s Grimsby fan James Pattinson

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By Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport
Not interviews have been conducted using an 11-month-old baby girl gift.
But, since James Pattinson had begun to talk about his family history, it was likely that his daughter Lilah was rolling around on the ground of a Leeds hotel, being entertained by Australia’s media supervisor.
Born in Melbourne from out of Barnsley to a dad from a mom and Grimsby, Pattinson could have played for England. His brother Darren infamously did just this, for a single Exam back.
James was asked to utilize the Three Lions, instead of bowl for Australia, when England toured down under in 2010-11. The has fond memories when he was aged five of the family returning to reside in Cleethorpes While he dropped.
“They were quite good times,” he explained.
“My brother worked on the docks as a fishmonger. I would be collected by mum from college and we would pick him up on the road. I remember him in a white outfit as well as the glasses, stinking of fish, and I’d be spewing out of the window since I could not deal with the smell every day.
“We lived in one of those scrawny houses. 1 day I was playing with upstairs and I appeared from the window and saw dad’ute driving down the street. I looked at me and dad was not there.
“I said:’dad, what is your car doing down the street?’ He was just like’what? Are you kidding me?’ Someone else had gone round the trunk and nicked it. At the moment, father thought it could have been his boss through a insurance job. We still do not know.”
This is the mid-1990s. Pattinson remembers getting into scrapes to be the only kid in Cleethorpes with an accent and playing with Pogs.
He was introduced into Grimsby Town by his dad.
“The first time we went to Blundell Park, we drove, and when we came back our car was broken in to,” he recalled. “Someone else had smashed the back window. I really don’t understand what they stole, because we did not actually have much. This was the last time we drove.
“My auntie functioned at the local pub in Cleethorpes and second door was a fish and chip shop. We used to go at the pub, buy chips and some fish proceed to see the football. It was fairly cool.”
Pattinson’s time residing in England lasted only a couple of years before the family went back to Melbourne -“mommy got sick of the weather” – but that the impression made by Grimsby, along with English football, was long permanent.
“When we were in Australia, dad drank out of a Grimsby Town mug he had eternally. I would always be looking up their scores, or he would tell me when they were not going and if they had won.
“I could still recall crying after England lost to Portugal in a penalty shootout. Dad was pretty distraught too.”
Pattinson’s childhood and the links to England have continued to echo through his adult life and most of his family remain in Cleethorpes.
He’s got tattoos of a high hat and Big Ben. During his time as Nottinghamshire participant, he discovered that Grimsby and Notts County at Meadow Lane played. He went along on his own and saw them lose 2-1.
But, Pattinson isalso, in his own words,”100% Australian”. That sense didn’t extend to his father, who needed some convincing to switch his allegiance when his son played Ashes cricket.
“My very first Test series against England was in 2013. He was still umming and ahing and I said:’come on, you’ve got to support your son’.
“One of the things which helped him change his mind was when Darren played with his Test, a number of those great England players that dad loved said some matters he was not happy with.”
The coincidence of speaking about Darren in Leeds, the scene of his brother’s just game, was not lost on James.
The selection of darren was the England pick that is most controversial in recent memorycard.
Having learned his cricket in Australia, he was able to play for Nottinghamshire due to the UK passport. After six games for Notts having a record, he had been plucked from nowhere to play South Africa.
“This was a jolt,” said James, who was 18 at that time. “Darren up me and said’I might be playing for England in two days. We had no chance so that I sat up all night long and saw it.
“Looking back today, because I have been about top notch cricket, I could understand that the flak that he got was simply people’s opinions.
“At that timeI was young and my father had never experienced individuals saying bad things about his sons. He was a bit beat up about it.
“I don’t think Darren really enjoyed the Test that far, but it’s a excellent achievement he played. If England had not lost, then perhaps opinions would differ.”
After Darren retired, he indulged together with James, who as a teen helped a trainer out by walking puppies involved, in coaching greyhounds.
The Pattinson boys still have a few racers though James is happy to admit that the brothers are far at bowling fast than training winners, although the company has since cooled.
It might be that Pattinson misses out weekly on playing in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. His match figures of 3-56 in England’s amazing third Test win were commendable, but his back is being managed as part of their tourists’ policy to rotate their battery of fast bowlers.
From what we know of Pattinson the cricketer – the chest out, knees pumping, snarling fast bowler – it’s difficult to fit him into the chatty dad pushing a pram.
He speaks of the way he owes a lot of his career to his dad, with whom his fondest memories are of touring around London to a double-decker bus, then contemplates the way he would have been lining up to the side, as opposed to wearing tight green, if his parents had not decided to return down under.
Then the competition that is Pattinson shines through.
“Yeah, I’ve a soft spot for England, but I will be doing everything I can to win the Ashes for Australia.”
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