Worcestershire seamer nominated for PCA Young Player of the Year
Wednesday 3 October 2018 17:09, UK
Another was the look on the faces of batsmen as Worcestershire seamer Pat Brown befuddled them with his bowling variations and helped his side to a first white-ball trophy in a decade.
Brown bagged 4-21 in the Rapids' semi-final win over Lancashire, including three in a 19th over in which he shipped a solitary run, and bowled frugally in the final, recording figures of 0-15, as Worcestershire saw off Sussex.
The 20-year-old's form should have come as no surprise - he scooped 27 scalps across the group stage and quarter-finals to end the Blast season with 31 wickets, a tally only bettered once in an English campaign, by former Somerset seamer Alfonso Thomas, who bagged 33 in 2010.
But Brown, nominated for PCA Young Player of the Year alongside team-mate Ed Barnard, Surrey and England's Sam Curran and Ollie Pope and Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, says he does not possess "a whole bag of tricks".
"It depends what you count as a delivery, really," the Peterborough-born star told Sky Sports ahead of Thursday's PCA Awards in London.
"I have got my normal-pace ball which I can bowl length, a yorker or a bouncer with and then I've got a couple of slower ones I use. There's not a whole bag of tricks there.
"When you are bowling well, you almost don't have to think - you just know what to bowl when you are on the way back to your mark.
"If you are under the pump a bit or feel that a batsman is looking to get hold of you, what I look to do, and what we are encouraged to do at Worcestershire, is bowl my best ball and back myself. If the batsman can then hit your best ball for six, then fair enough.
"My best ball is a slower one. It doesn't matter whether the batsman is expecting it or not, if he's not hitting it for six then there's no need for me to make a change."
The knuckleball, a slower delivery which wobbles towards batsmen before dipping alarmingly late, is one of Brown's major weapons.
"I have really enjoyed working on my variations and I have naturally found that easier than bowling yorkers, which I find a real challenge," he said.
"Bowling variations aren't that difficult - you have to have quite big hands to bowl the knuckleball and thankfully that's what I've got!
"Anyone can bowl them and have control, it's more about backing yourself to bowl them in front of 25,000 people [at Finals Day].
"It's one thing bowling in the nets or in a T20 game that isn't such a big occasion but the real challenge is bowling with all the outside noise.
"I was on the back of a good competition personally so I was feeling fairly confident - I wasn't worrying about 25,000 people or thinking: 'What if I'm not good enough?'
"It was a slightly strange experience having not played in front of big crowds a lot but it was a good experience and something I think I rose to."
Former South Africa seamer Allan Donald - someone Brown says he looked up to as a kid because of his "fiery character" - England star James Anderson, Worcestershire captain Moeen Ali and Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain all lavished the Rapids youngster with praise following Finals Day, suggesting IPL and England honours could be imminent.
Hussain even remarked that Brown's "life would change" as a result of his T20 success but the paceman has seen no evidence of that nor had approaches from T20 franchises as he focusses, albeit grudgingly, on his studies for the rest of 2018.
"I'm still the same old Pat," added the business-management student.
"It's great for people like that to praise me and coming from them others will take note - but I hope I am getting the same sort praise from the same sort of people next year.
"It's important that I don't worry too much about that or going to the next level with England - it's important that I carry on performing and that stuff will take care of itself.
"I have tried to distance myself from [talk of IPL deals etc]. I am finishing uni this year and so I have taken myself away from cricket and will then get ready to go again and crack on after Christmas.
"If there is an opportunity to go away to the IPL, to Bangladesh, to the Pakistan Super League and it fits in with my uni then I'll definitely do it but before Christmas, I'll be preparing for life after cricket.
"It's not what I really want to be doing - I'd much rather be going to the Big Bash - but, knowing myself, I know that if I leave my uni work for two years it will take a massive backseat.
"I would either end up not doing as well as I could or not go back to it at all. It's best for me to get it done now and then focus on cricket after that."
The worry for batsmen next term is that Brown believes he can add extra speed to his deadly slower balls and that he is aiming to become a regular in Worcestershire's County Championship XI - despite his white-ball form, Brown has figured in only five first-class fixtures to date.
"I haven't always focussed on bowling quick as unless you are express pace it is not always necessarily needed but I do think I can get faster," added Brown, who says he chose Worcestershire over five other counties partly because of their faith in young players.
Six counties were interested in me but a big factor in me joining Worcestershire was the fact they give opportunities to young players – if you perform well they are not afraid to throw you in. I also knew Ross Dewar, the strength and conditioning coach at Worcestershire, and followed the stuff he had given me to do so the chance to work with him again was also a big pull.
"People have said in the past that I'm not the quickest but I bowled on TV last year at the age of 18 and got up to 88mph, so I can get up there.
"If I can keep all my variations and have an 87mph bumper up my sleeve then I don't think that's going to do me any harm.
"It is really difficult as a white-ball bowler to have consistency and do it over a long period of time. In terms of having a long career I think it's important to play red-ball cricket. That's where you see the consistent performers.
"White-ball cricket is a bit of a slippery slope at times and you can drop off but if you are a good red-ball bowler you will be a good red-ball bowler for five, six, seven years. I definitely want to get into first-class cricket."
Join us for live coverage of the NatWest PCA Awards on Thursday, October 4 across Sky Sports' digital platforms.
