After Kurtis Patterson received his late-evening call from national selector Trevor Hohns to tell him to pack his bags for Brisbane, one of first people he was on the phone to - after his girlfriend, mum and dad - was New South Wales batting coach Beau Casson who the batsman has spoken of in glowing terms for his help in what has become a breakthrough season.

Casson, the former left-arm wristspinner who played one Test before being forced to retire with a heart problem in 2011, took the NSW role in the build-up to the 2018-19 season as part of a coaching structure at the Blues. He has already forged a very close relationship with Patterson, whose back-to-back centuries against the touring Sri Lankans in Hobart offered an irresistible case to the selectors, who drafted him in despite already having made considerable changes to the batting line-up.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to Beau Casson, we've forged a really strong relationship and he's absolutely fantastic for me," Patterson said. "I really enjoy the way he goes about his coaching, we get along really well on a personal level, which helps to start with, and I think he really understands batting and cricket. He keeps it really simple which I think is what I've been lacking in previous years, going too far the other way. He's just a good coach who knows the right things to say."

However, Casson was more than happy to deflect the praise back the other way for a player he called very "self-sufficient".

"It's flattering that Kurtis has said those nice things but he's probably giving me a little too much credit there," Casson told ESPNcricinfo. "He'd identified areas from his own personal reflection that he wanted to work on and that's where you mustn't understate how much he thinks about his game. He has really good self-awareness. [There have been] minor technical adjustments, but it's been about getting the right state of mind. I can't state this enough, he's done a huge amount himself. Also in a really conducive environment at New South Wales."

Patterson's twin hundreds in the pink-ball warm-up, albeit not a first-class fixture, made it three in his last five red-ball innings following an unbeaten century against Western Australia when NSW were in deep trouble before the Sheffield Shield break in late November. It has been a stirring response to the debate about his conversion rate, which currently stands at six centuries in 103 first-class innings. After his first-innings ton in Hobart, Patterson admitted that the WACA hundred had been a key moment.