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Pat Brown is reluctant to call it a comeback but, five years on from the last of four white-ball caps for England, the seamer who rose to prominence with a wobbling knuckleball heads into the new season buzzing from a winter spent with Andrew Flintoff’s Lions team.
Abdominal soreness meant Brown missed the one-off unofficial Test against Australia A in Sydney that completed the Lions’ tour in late January but he is now back at Derbyshire, fully fit, and ready to start the County Championship at home to Gloucestershire on Friday. As the bottom side in Division Two last year with one win from 14, the only way is up.
It was a positive time in an England setup for Brown, his skills impressing during a pre-Christmas camp in South Africa to get him picked for the trip to Australia. Then, against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane, he claimed a five-wicket haul which included a sizzling hat-trick. His only regret? The four-day match did not have first-class status.
“You could say I picked a good time for my first five-fer and a hat-trick but it doesn’t count towards my stats,” says Brown, with a wry smile. “My best first-class figures are still two for 15 but I was picked on a red ball tour of Australia, so it’s obviously not what I have done in county cricket so far but more what they see in me.”
This is very much England’s modus operandi these days, with the 26-year-old among a number of recent picks being looked at for their attributes rather than their figures. Brown is eager to get among the championship wickets this season, even if, by his own admission, white-ball cricket remains his forte.
England have ultimately noted how Brown’s pace is back up to the slippery mid-80s mph on the speed gun, while his armoury has developed considerably since the two-year spell for Worcestershire in the T20 Blast that got him fast-tracked into Eoin Morgan’s white-ball side in late 2019. The knuckleball, a sleight-of-hand slower ball that snakes unpredictably and has its origins in baseball, was very much his calling card back then.
“The rise I had was pretty quick but I don’t feel it came too soon,” says Brown. “I got a back stress fracture and missed the next tour to South Africa, so that was why it stopped really. Although that one ball – the knuckleball – was so effective and came out well that it probably did mask some of the weaknesses I had.
“I would feel more prepared to play international cricket now. I knew deep down … not that I was a one-trick pony … but I relied heavily on that ball. I’m a way better all-round bowler and cricketer these days. Playing for England doesn’t quite feel like yesterday, especially after going on a Lions tour full of 20-year-olds. I wouldn’t call it a comeback … more a return to where I see myself and where I want to be.”
Unconvinced he was viewed as a red-ball cricketer by Worcestershire, and in need of a fresh start after a run of injuries, Brown moved to Derbyshire 12 months ago after being taken by Mickey Arthur’s vision. Five wickets from six first-class outings last summer is something Brown is keen to rectify soon and after working with Flintoff at the Lions – his head coach in the Hundred also – he sounds like he is walking tall.
“[Flintoff] has been amazing,” Brown says. “Who he is was slightly lost on some of the younger lads in the Lions. Not completely, but some of them weren’t even born when he dominated the 2005 Ashes, so they didn’t get as starstruck as some of the older lads. He is an incredible bloke, everything you’d want your hero to be.
“You get so much backing and belief, you don’t feel a bad game or spell from being given up on. He is less technical, he lets Neil Killeen [England pace bowling lead] cover that and may throw his two cents in occasionally. It’s more his experiences in the game and off the field; the sort of things Level 2, 3, 4 [coaching badges] don’t teach.”
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Brown has also learned a fair bit about life these past 12 months, his world rocked last May when Josh Baker, best friend and former teammate at Worcestershire, died suddenly at the age of 20. Brown spoke at Baker’s funeral and, more broadly, his outlook towards cricket has been reshaped by the loss.
“It took me a week to get everything down I wanted to say. I was bricking it,” says Brown. “But it was really nice to honour him and tell people how I saw him and the friendship we had. As I said on the day, Bakes was already the life and soul of the dressing room, which, at just 20 years old, was a pretty impressive feat.
“[The grief] is still a tough thing. Day to day it gets easier but you still have days where you think about him and it doesn’t seem easy at all. I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way but it has probably been good for my cricket and my perspective.
“I know how shitty life can be, so going at six an over or not taking a wicket is nothing to get stressed about. It has taught me to take the importance out of it and just enjoy the ride. I know Bakes would love to still be here playing cricket and so the day to day ups and downs of the sport don’t hold me back any more.”
This forthcoming summer may not be a comeback per se but given Brown’s journey to this point, it is impossible not to wish him well.
