'I could hardly walk' - James Pattinson opens up on his decision to retire

Recently, Australian pacer James Pattinson announced his retirement from international cricket. He decided that he wouldn’t be able to push himself to play in the Ashes series this summer. His retirement came in as a huge shock for the cricketing fraternity. However, now the speedster has opened up on his decision to hang up his boots from international cricket.

He revealed his conversations with fellow teammate Pat Cummins on the same. Pattinson said that he had started his preparations for the pre-season really well but the ongoing pandemic and an injury created tough times for him. He also added how difficult it was for him to bowl in the nets amidst the challenging times.

“I’m pretty close with Patty Cummins and I rang him before I was (announcing my retirement) and he said, ‘Is there any way that I could convince you to stay? I started the pre-season really early to try and give myself the best possible chance to get my body right for the Ashes. I started, really, really well. But then the Covid-19 stuff hit and I got injured and it just dragged out. Every time I was bowling in the nets, every time I tried to bowl at 100 percent, I was pulling up really sore,” Pattinson said as quoted by Fox cricket.

The pacer also asserted how taxing his latest injury prove to be and that it made him emotional over how sore he was. He said, “There were days after bowling indoors that the next day I could hardly walk. I could hardly pick up my kid when I got home. There were times there when I was getting pretty emotional with how sore I was.”

I’ve made a decision and I’m relieved and happy: James Pattinson

The Australia fast bowler further opened up on his decision to retire. He stated that it was a tough call to make but he feels much more relieved now. He also expressed his willingness to play county cricket for Nottinghamshire as an overseas professional next year. Pattinson also added that he looks forward to helping the younger bowlers of Victoria.

“Since I’ve backed off a little bit, my body’s feeling OK. I’ll just be able to relax a bit, not having to bust myself to play cricket. I’ve made a decision and I’m relieved and happy. I’ll probably go over and play with (English county cricket side) Nottingham next year and then come back here and play Big Bash and play for Victoria. Now I can move on to trying to help out some of the younger bowlers of Victoria,” Pattinson added.