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 with an 11-month-old baby woman present.
But, since James Pattinson had begun to discuss his family history, it was likely that his daughter Lilah was rolling around being entertained by the media supervisor of Australia.
Produced to a father from a mother and Grimsby from out of Barnsley, Pattinson might have played for England. His brother Darren did this, for a single Evaluation back.
James was asked to utilize the 3 Lions, rather than bowl fast for Australia, when England toured down under in 2010-11. While he dropped, the has fond memories.
“They’re fairly good times,” he said.
“My brother worked on the docks as a fishmonger. Mum would roll me and we would pick him up on the road through. I remember him in a white outfit and also the glasses, stinking of fish, and I’d be spewing out of the window because I couldn’t take care of the smell each day.
“We lived in one of these skinny houses. 1 afternoon I had been playing upstairs and I looked from the window and watched dad’ute pushing down the road. I looked at me and dad was not there.
“I stated:’dad, what is your car doing driving down the street?’ He was like’what? Are you kidding me’ Someone nicked it and had gone round the trunk to our garage. At the moment, daddy thought it would happen to be his boss through an insurance job. We still do not know.”
This was the mid-1990s. Pattinson remembers becoming scrapes for being the only kid in Cleethorpes using the Australian accent and playing Pogs.
He was also introduced to Grimsby Town with his father.
“The first time we moved to Blundell Parkwe drove, and when we arrived back our car was broken into,” he remembered. “Someone else had smashed the back window. I really don’t know what they stole, because we did not actually have much. This was the last time we drove.
“My auntie worked at the local bar in Cleethorpes and next door was a fish and chip shop. We used to go at the bar, get a few fish and chipsproceed to see the football. It was rather cool.”
Pattinson’s time living in England lasted just a couple of years until the family went back into Melbourne -“mommy got sick of the weather” – however, the impression produced by Grimsby, and English football, was permanent.
“When we have been in Australia, dad drank from a Grimsby Town mug that he had eternally. I would always be looking their own scores up, or he would tell me if they’d won and when they weren’t going well.
“I can still recall screaming after England lost to Portugal in a penalty shootout. Dad was rather distraught too.”
The hyperlinks to England and pattinson’s youth have continued to echo throughout his adult life and most of his extended family are still in Cleethorpes.
He has tattoos of Big Ben along with a hat. Throughout his time as Nottinghamshire participant, he found out that Grimsby were enjoying with Notts County at Meadow Lane. He went along on his own and saw them lose 2-1.
But, Pattinson is, in his own words,”100% Australian”. That feeling, however, didn’t extend to his dad, who had some convincing when his son played, to change his allegiance Ashes cricket.
“My first Test series against England was in 2013. He was umming and ahing and I said:’come on, you have got to encourage your son’.
“One of the things which helped him change his own mind was when Darren played with his Test, some of those great England players who daddy loved said some things he was not happy with.”
The coincidence of talking about Darren at Leeds, the spectacle of his brother’s just game, wasn’t lost on James.
The choice of darren 11 decades ago was the England pick that is most contentious in recent memory.
Having learned his cricket in Australia, he managed to play for Nottinghamshire because of his UK passport. Having a record, albeit Following six games for Notts, he had been plucked from nowhere to play against South Africa.
“This was a shock,” said James, who was 18 at the time. “Darren up me and said’I might be playing for England in two days. We had no opportunity to fly over there, so that I saw it and sat up all night.
“Looking back today, because I have been about top-level cricket, I can realize that the flak he got was only people’s comments.
“At the time, I was young and my dad hadn’t ever experienced folks saying bad things about his own sons. He was a little beat up about it.
“I don’t believe Darren really enjoyed the Test that far, but it is a terrific achievement that he played. If England had not lost, then maybe opinions would be different.”
Following Darren retired, he indulged with James, who as a teen helped out a local coach, in coaching greyhounds.
The Pattinson boys own a few racers, even though James is happy to acknowledge that the brothers are far at bowling quickly than training winners, although the company has cooled.
It might be that Pattinson misses out on playing at the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford this week. His match figures of 3-56 in the amazing third Test win of England were totally decent, but his back that is bothersome is being managed as part of the tourists’ plan.
From what we know of Pattinson the cricketer – the chest out, knees pumping, snarling fast bowler – it’s challenging to match him into the chatty father.
He speaks of how he owes much of his career to his dad, with whom his fondest memories are of touring around London on a double-decker bus, then contemplates how he might have been lining up for the side, as opposed to wearing loose green, even 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, however I’ll be doing everything I can to win the Ashes for Australia.”
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