Student to put degree on hold for crack at IPL
ROOKIE BOWLER BROWN UP FOR AUCTION
Pat Brown is dreaming of becoming English cricket’s latest rags-to-riches story after thrusting himself forward for next week’s IPL auction.
Brown, a final- year university student, will be forced to take a timeout from his business management degree if he is able to follow up a Bangladesh Premier League deal with a gig at the world’s premier twenty20 tournament.
there are only 20 overseas slots available in the eight franchises but a prolific season with worcestershire has given the 20-year- old a chance to emulate tymal Mills, who became an overnight millionaire when he was sold for 24 times his base price for the 2017 event. In only one of the previous 15 English t20 seasons had a bowler surpassed 30 wickets, but Brown’s pic-’n’-mix bag of knuckle balls and slippery bouncers reaped 31 and had his captain Moeen ali dubbing him ‘world class’.
Brown said: ‘It will be tricky to get in but it’s nice to be in with a chance. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to bowl to the likes of Virat Kohli. It’s natural to think about how you would bowl at a batsman like that but I think I would go about things very differently because my strengths are different to other people’s. I am a big believer in sticking to whatever I feel my strengths are and not worrying about the batsmen until they dictate that you have to do something else.
‘over here you have unbelievable players. take Ian Bell, for example. Someone like Ed Pollock is scary to bowl at because you know he can take you down. then there’s riki wessels, who is unorthodox and can hit you anywhere, including sweeping the first ball he faces. Having him and alex Hales at either end on my debut was a baptism of fire.’
Indeed, Brown disappeared for 27 runs in two overs as that pair put on 92 in 45 balls that day. the rise of the Peterborough lad is all the more remarkable for the fact he managed just one wicket in his first half-adozen appearances.
But he appears as likely to be picked up as any of the 18 Englishmen going under the hammer in Jaipur next tuesday as he will be available for the full tournament, unlike some higher-profile compatriots. the world Cup means most countries are asking their players to return home before the end of april.
For Brown it would just be a case of having one or two conversations with his lecturers at the City of worcester University.
He said: ‘I am focused on my degree but it would be stupid to turn down these chances because of uni, which I will be able to do at any time. I want to take my chance if I can.’