Fast bowler James Pattinson feels Cricket Australia has his best interests at heart despite bowling him when it had been warned he was on the verge of serious injury.
Australian coach Mickey Arthur revealed he and his staff had been warned Pattinson was at breaking point going into last summer’s SCG Test against India.
Despite the warning, the Victorian took part in the match and subsequently broke down with a stress injury in his foot, sparking a run of injury woes which hampered the 22-year-old for the next few months.
But Pattinson says he’s confident in the plans team management has in place for himself and the rest of Australia’s pace brigade relating to workloads and injury prevention.
“The way they’re doing it now is very good and I think it’s going to hold us all in good stead come three or four years, like Mickey was talking about, once you reach that age of 25 and become a bit more mature,” Pattinson told reporters on Tuesday.
“We are a pretty young bowling side coming through and we don’t want to get burn-out too early.
“As much as we want to play we do listen to them and they really have us in their best interests. I suppose you just have to take that on board and listen to what they say, do whatever they tell you to do.
“We spoke about it at the Darwin camp. They do have a good plan for us and hopefully that all goes, so to speak, to plan.
“It is there, it’s in place and they’re definitely looking after us.”
Pattinson said he had been injury-free for the past two months and was itching to get back into action ahead of this summer’s blockbuster Test series against South Africa.
Pattinson will join his Victoria teammates for a domestic one-day cup match against Western Australia in Perth on Friday as he begins his preparations for the opening Test of the summer at the Gabba from November 9.
“I’ve had a good platform for the last two months now. Injury-free from then,” he said.
“Everything’s going to plan for the moment so hopefully I can perform for the Vics and hopefully move on to bigger honours come the Test matches.”
