A tall seam bowler and right hand lower order batsman, Patterson made his first-class debut in 2005 against Bangladesh A, having first played one-day cricket for his native county in 2002.

Patterson attended Leeds University from 2002 to 2005, where he studied mathematics whilst playing part-time for Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Patterson secured a regular County Championship place in the side at the start of the 2010 season.

Patterson was appointed as captain of the side for the 2019 season,[2] and continued in that role until 2022.

This biographical article related to an English cricketer born in the 1980s is a stub.