With Western Zone, Country Cricket NSW, Australian Country and national Indigenous XI caps under his belt Patterson's experience is unquestionable, and he opened his regular season last weekend with NSW Premier Cricket club Campbelltown-Camden.

Patterson shifts to Redbacks after acting as Cavaliers' marquee in recent years.

The inclusion of English import Harrison Craig does somewhat offset Patterson's unavailability on Sunday though, he comes to Redbacks after they welcomed big contributions from Northern Ireland's Aditya Adey last summer.

Craig, hailing from Peterborough, England, gives Redbacks an all-round spin option.

"He's only been over here for just over a week now and it looks like he's going to offer us a fair bit," Redbacks skipper Joey Coughlan said.

"He's an all-rounder who will bat in our top six and can bowl a lot of overs. I haven't had many spin options but this year I've got two of them, with Matt Willis coming back.

"With scheduling changes and it being race weekend it's been a bit tricky getting a team together for Sunday but we've managed to get 12 blokes available."

Redbacks picked up a lone victory in last summer's Twenty20 tournament but, as seems to have been a trend for the Bathurst side, they were hit hard by the weather.

They face Kinross at Wade Park in the second game of Sunday's double header, from 2pm.