Armed with an old-school fast bowler’s snarl, Pattinson was also extremely skilled, his combination of pace and swing reaping him 81 wickets at 26.33, while he was also handy with the bat, averaging 26.06 in the lower order. He also played 15 one-day internationals and four Twenty20s for his country.

National selection chair George Bailey spoke glowingly of Pattinson’s wholehearted approach to the game.

“Everyone who has played with Patto has thrived on his competitive nature and the sheer pride he takes in playing for his country,” Bailey said.

“James epitomises what it means to play for Australia, the sacrifices you make and the hurdles you have to overcome on the journey.

“But his record speaks for itself, he has been a wonderful player. We would have loved to have seen a lot more of him over the years.”

Big things were expected of Pattinson when he burst onto the Test arena in 2011 but a string of serious injuries, predominantly stress fractures back, prevented him from posting similar numbers to those of his contemporaries.

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The world-class quick underwent spinal fusion surgery in 2017 to save his career and was rewarded with a recall for the 2019 Ashes after three-and-a-half years out of the team.

Unfortunately for Pattinson, his return to fitness came at a time when Australia’s senior quicks were generally all available, which meant he was seldom seen in the Test side.

Pattinson’s latest injury to his knee is only minor but has prevented him from building the workload required for Victoria’s Shield game against NSW starting in Sydney on Wednesday.

As recently as last December, Pattinson harboured ambitions to play Test cricket well into his 30s, but he was overlooked for the start of the series against India then ruled out for the final two games after an injury while gardening at home.

Selectors have foreshadowed a plan to rotate their quicks through the five-Test series, as they did for the 2019 Ashes when Pattinson and Peter Siddle also featured alongside the NSW trio.

Uncapped seamers Michael Neser, Sean Abbott and Michael Steketee are all in contention to come into an expanded Ashes squad.

Australia’s pace battalion was hit earlier in the week when Western Australia star Jhye Richardson hurt his back though it’s unclear how serious his injury is.

Star batsman Will Pucovski’s push for an Ashes berth is likely to be delayed by at least a week. The gun batsman is recovering from mild concussion but it’s the shoulder he had reconstructed which is holding him back.

Victoria is hopeful he will be fit for the state’s second game against NSW, at the MCG starting November 5.

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Test spinner Nathan Lyon suffered mild concussion while fielding in an intra-squad trial game for NSW. He was withdrawn from the match but is expected to play next week.

Cricket Australia belatedly confirmed the start of NSW and Victoria’s domestic seasons after several delays caused by COVID.

Both states unsuccessfully applied for players and staff to quarantine in Northern Territory then South Australia but were denied by health authorities, leaving them in limbo.

Moises Henriques and Ben Dwarshuis are due to leave the United Arab Emirates, where they had been playing in the Indian Premier League, on November 1. It was decided they would leave later so they would not have to quarantine for 14 days after the changes to Sydney’s rules regarding returned international travellers.

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