Princely Kurtis Patterson adds steel to his elegance

For one sunny November afternoon back in 2011, it seemed as though centuries were going to come very easily for an 18-year-old Kurtis Patterson.

In his maiden first-class innings for New South Wales against Western Australia at the SCG, he breezed to an insouciant and then brutal hundred in the company of Simon Katich, looking so elegant and composed at the crease that it appeared a Test call-up was only a matter of time.

Seven years and near enough to 100 first-class innings later, Patterson had only made four more. He was impressively consistent, repeatedly getting through the tough early periods against Sheffield Shield attacks and graduating to a position of leadership for the Blues, but those big, breakthrough innings were strangely elusive. In the spring of 2018, after more starts with Australia A in India, Patterson reasoned that enough was enough. He needed to change.

There were to be a few technical tweaks, but this was primarily a mental change. As a placid, thoughtful character, Patterson had often struggled to find the clear-headed, simplified "zone" of long-haul batting that the best players are able to reach more often than the rest.

His efforts to re-commit to mental discipline and a mode of batting that the soon-to-retire selector Greg Chappell has referred to as "fierce focus" set him on the path to a dam-bursting century for NSW against WA in Perth early in the season, and ultimately to a highly attractive hundred in his second Test against Sri Lanka at Canberra's Manuka Oval.

"There's probably been a fair bit that I've changed from last season to be honest," Patterson reflected. "Probably post the Aussie A trip to India I had a bit of self-reflection, thought about what I needed to do to convert those starts into big scores. A couple of small technical changes, but the main ones have been that I've changed the way I've trained, I've tried to hit balls for longer on those training days and pay a bit more attention to my mental routines and what I'm doing when I'm out there in the middle.

"I think in previous years I've been guilty of overthinking it and actually changing what I'm doing when I'm getting to 50 or 60 when the reality is you don't need to change it - if you're getting to that point doing something you've just got to continue and go for a long time.

"There's been a few different moments but our bowling coach at NSW, Andre Adams, just said to me at the MCG one day 'you're going to be a successful batter if you've got a decent technique and if you can stay on task and make the right decisions.' That pretty much sums up the way I view batting and that's helped me along the way."

While the off-season work made a significant difference to Patterson's outlook, he still needed to prove to himself that the changes would bear fruit. In the very first long-form fixture at the new Perth Stadium, on a decidedly challenging pitch, he was able to ward off the incisive threat of Jhye Richardson for long enough to add a sixth first-class century, shedding enormous amounts of mental baggage in the process.

"I think that's, aside from today my first Test hundred, that's been my most satisfying hundred in my career, that one in Perth," he said. "On what was a reasonably tough wicket we got sent in to bat and Jhye Richardson bowled one of the best spells of fast bowling that I've seen. I've said to a few people it was a big weight off the back, but I also said that I felt like it could've come in any game prior to that because I felt like I've been batting really well.

"My thinking's been really clear, which has been good, but it was a nice monkey off the back to get it over in Perth, a place that traditionally for NSW we haven't played that well, so to score a hundred and then win the game over there was really satisfying."

If Patterson was not immediately rewarded with selection for Australia's Test side, then he was left in no doubt that his languid, timing-over-power game was being looked at very closely when he won selection for the Cricket Australia XI to face the Sri Lankans in Hobart. Twin unbeaten centuries later, he was rushed from outside the initial squad to play in Brisbane, before making the most of ideal batting conditions in Canberra with a succession of sweet strokes through cover and dismissive pulls to and over the square leg boundary.

"I think whirlwind's probably the right word. It hasn't suck in yet to be honest and I probably don't want it to sink in until the Test match is over," he said. "There's an important job to do tomorrow, we need to take another 16 wickets to win the match, so I'm happy that's where my head's at at the moment and I'm happy for it to sink in after Tuesday. I'm stoked, I'm happy with the achievement, but looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and trying to keep doing well for Australia.

"I've played that innings in my mind ever since I was a little boy, so it was really nice to get out there today and make it a reality, but more importantly put the team in a really good position to try to win another Test match."

Nevertheless, it all might have been over rather differently had an edge onto pad been pouched at short leg first ball. Patterson admitted this near-miss had fired him into a heightened state of concentration, the better to ally with Joe Burns and Tim Paine to lift Australia to comfortably their highest total of the Test summer. "I was bloody furious with myself," he said.

"I'd watched the boys play the spinners with reasonable ease for four hours sitting there. Then I went out there and played for turn on my first ball and it's just such a funny game, if that gets caught I'm not sitting here and talking to you guys, but it did absolutely wake me up. I certainly didn't play for turn after that ball and was treating them like they were almost swinging in. Really fortunate to be here but really glad I was able to put that behind me."

With a hundred behind him, Patterson can now see complementary tasks ahead - to help guide NSW towards a first Shield title since 2014, while at the same time defying the swinging, seaming Dukes ball to shore up a berth in Australia's squad for this year's Ashes series. "From everyone's personal point of view there's an Ashes tour coming up so it's always highlighted more the Dukes ball," Patterson said. "But we're in a really good position for NSW to try to win the Shield so that's at the forefront of the mind once this game's over.

"I like playing when the ball's moving to be honest, generally there's more slips, bowlers are more attacking and the captains are more attacking. So there's generally a few more gaps in the field for someone like myself who doesn't really try and hit the ball too hard, I just like to lean on the ball and time it. Previously in my experiences I like when the ball's moving, it's obviously a different challenge and it brings in more modes of dismissal, but I think I go okay against the moving ball but there's four Shield games that'll be a terrific opportunity for all batters around the country."

Over the eight years since that first burst of teenage talent, Patterson has always looked the type of player ultimately bound for the Test team. But he first needed to learn how to get the best out of himself and his game, something he appears to have done in the nick of time for an Ashes campaign.