Patterson comes to life when it really matters

The 31-year-old pace bowler is perhaps not one of cricket’s most animated characters – hence the affectionate monicker.

But put a cricket ball in his hand and he is as lively as the best of them, as he proved on the second day at North Marine Road.

After Yorkshire lifted their overnight 357-5 to 430 all-out, with captain Andrew Gale scoring 164, Patterson took three of the wickets as Worcestershire replied with 195-6.

It was characteristic stuff from the Beverley-born Patterson, who probed away on or around off stump with a surgeon’s precision.

He is the cricketing equivalent of Chinese water torture, constantly landing the ball on the same spot until the poor old batsman is driven insane.

On a day when 20 overs were lost to a combination of rain and bad light, Patterson was Yorkshire’s most successful bowler.

In an attack boasting Ryan Sidebottom, Jack Brooks, Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid, four of them full internationals, that was clearly no mean feat.

Patterson, who captured a 
career-best 5-11 in the corresponding game at New Road in April, took his first wicket with his seventh ball from the Trafalgar Square end.

It was the first delivery after a 20-minute rain delay, and it was the key wicket of Daryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire captain, trapped lbw pushing half-forward.

Mitchell’s dismissal left Worcestershire 53-2 after Brooks had removed fellow opener Richard Oliver with the total on 32.

The left-hander drove at a ball outside off stump and was brilliantly pouched by Plunkett leaping high to his right at fourth slip, a catch that fell firmly into the category marked ‘worldie’.

Before a crowd of 3,600 (an improvement on the first day figure of 2,450, although still slightly disappointing given Yorkshire’s position at the top of the table), Plunkett got his name in the wickets column when he had Tom Fell caught at second slip by Jack Leaning, low to his left.

Patterson then made a double intervention just before tea.

Having switched to the Peasholm Park end, he enticed Brett D’Oliveira to edge behind to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow to leave Worcestershire 109-4.

Patterson followed up having Ross Whiteley – who hammered 91 not out from 35 balls with 11 sixes when the sides met at Headingley in the T20 Blast last Tuesday – caught by Leaning at second slip as the visitors slipped to 119-5.