I Wasn't a One-Trick Pony But I'm a Way Better Cricketer Now

Derbyshire seamer Pat Brown was renowned for his fiendish knuckleball but post-injury hopes for a revival in fortunes

- Ali Martin

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."