Where are they now: Patrick Patterson

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/patrick-patterson-search-indian-express-journalist-tracks-former-west-indies-fast-bowler-jamaica/2017-07-24

The fourth banana of the Fab Four, not so much your Ringo as a Zeppo Marx.....but could sometimes be a handy fast bowler on an unplayable pitch .....

He was a mean farker. Just ask the Aus top 6 of the late 80s and early 90s.

Not in the same league as the others, all the same....Merv Hughes putting him into the Moreton Bay figs just before tea on the Sat of the Aus Day test in Jan 89 was a story-shifting moment

If he was your weakest bowler then it was some attack... second change to some combination of Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh, Holding, Garner, take your pick! Sure I've heard a few say that in terms of out and out speed, Patterson was up there with anyone.

Fred Nerk wrote:http://www.cricket.com.au/news/patrick-patterson-search-indian-express-journalist-tracks-former-west-indies-fast-bowler-jamaica/2017-07-24

The fourth banana of the Fab Four, not so much your Ringo as a Zeppo Marx.....but could sometimes be a handy fast bowler on an unplayable pitch .....

Interesting article. Certainly sounds like Patterson is living with some personal demons.

Article was a good find. He was frightening to watch even as a spectator. Seems that he has some support around him.

I remember when Lancashire signed Colin Croft as an overseas player in 1977.He was a big bugger, and quickly gained a reputation as a thoroughly nasty, vicious fast bowler who no batsman relished facing - his 125 Test wickets at 23 (in just 27 matches) puts him up with the best. When he left in 1982, nobody thought we'd see another like him signed in a hurry.

A couple of years later, word was that we were going to sign another WIndian quick, who was rumoured to be faster and more frightening to face than Colin Croft had been. Balfour Patrick Patterson. Who ? Never heard of 'im. Everyone knew of him once he arrived in 1984. When we consider that Graham Gooch (at the time a ten-year veteran of test cricket, having faced the best around) admitted to being frightened when facing Patterson, it's fair to say that the rumours had some basis in fact. He stayed with us until 1990.

Sad to read of his problems post retirement, but hopefully he's now getting the support and help he obviously needs.

Sylvester Clarke was another mean farker.

lardbucket wrote:Sylvester Clarke was another mean farker.

Was about to mention him. Probably bowled the most vicious bouncer I have seen.

Selvey's cricinfo profile of Patto makes fine, if gothically scary, reading:

It is the stock question for international batsmen. Who is the quickest and nastiest? Graham Gooch did not mind the pace, but he says the only time he has been in fear of his wellbeing was at Sabina Park in February 1986 when, on a grassy pitch, Test debutant Patrick "Patto" Patterson hurtled his inelegant bow-legged way up the hill, thrust his leading leg high, studs at the batsman, stamped down hard enough to measure on the Richter Scale, and, bowling like the devil in front of his home crowd, put the wind up England's finest. He took 4 for 29 on his first day in Tests, 7 for 73 in the match, and for a few years, until his rhythm deserted him (his movement became awkward, and he relied on sheer muscularity), he was as fast as anything in the world and a nasty proposition on pitches offering any pace or lift.

Poor guy seems very troubled by demons of doubt & paranoia (from the full article):

But, when I tell him that I’ll stay in touch even once I’m back home, his smile vanishes and his face turns serious. He comes close, holds my hands and says, “But don’t forget, they’ll be listening. They tap my phone, you know. This is not easy for me. Believe you me. Believe you me…”

Unless of course the black helicopters are real.

I hope he continues to find some manageable way through.

Going back to the 50s Roy Gilchrist was as mad as a barrel of monkeys....don't remember the exact details but he once pulled either a knife or a gun on captain Gerry Alexander in England in 1957

.... and deliberately bowled beamers.

Fred Nerk wrote:http://www.cricket.com.au/news/patrick-patterson-search-indian-express-journalist-tracks-former-west-indies-fast-bowler-jamaica/2017-07-24

The fourth banana of the Fab Four, not so much your Ringo as a Zeppo Marx.....but could sometimes be a handy fast bowler on an unplayable pitch .....

First time I have seen Zeppo Marx mentioned on a cricket forum & within a few days Barbara Sinatra dies. How spooky is that?