Steven Finn ready to rise from the Ashes
cricinfo
LONDON: Steven Finn believes the best is yet to come for him as an international cricketer. Finn has not played Test cricket since the start of the 2013 Investec Ashes series but won a recall to the squad ahead of the Cardiff Test, which begins on Wednesday, according to cricinfo.
While he accepts he will probably only make the final XI if one of the other seamers sustains an injury, he is delighted to have finally fought his way back into the reckoning after a chastening period when he was deemed unselectable. Despite having taken 90 Test wickets at the impressive strike rate of one every 48.30 deliveries, he says his next game will feel like making another debut.
It was Ashley Giles, Englands limited-overs coach, who described Finn as not selectable when explaining why he was being sent home early from the Ashes tour of 2013-14. It was a term used quite often by the coaching staff about Finn on that trip - and not unreasonably as he looked a shadow of the fast bowler that had burst on to the scene in 2010 - but Giles was the only one to use it publicly. It earned him some criticism, though Finn understands it was meant benevolently.
It wasnt meant in a derogatory way, Finn says now. I had a testing period. It wasnt pleasant. But overall its been a beneficial experience. I came home, reassessed where I was and all that is in the past. I feel good now. I feel I can do myself justice.
Whatever the cause of Finns issues and it would appear that attempts to shorten his run-up and help him avoid crashing into the non-strikers stumps in delivery provoked a crisis of confidence that resulted in the natural fast bowler losing pace and rhythm he says he never lost faith in his ability to make it back to Test cricket.
And why would he? For even now, two years since he last played, he is only 26. While the pace is not back to the level it once was - mid-80s rather than early 90s would appear to be the norm these days - he was termed Englands attack leader by new head coach Trevor Bayliss after the ODI series with New Zealand and seems to be inching his way to somewhere approaching the bowler he once was.
I dont think I ever doubted Id get back, he says. I never thought that playing Test cricket was out of my grasp. If I was five years older I might have done. I always knew that Ive had success at international cricket. My record speaks for itself in all formats.
I certainly hope the best is ahead. Im only 26. Im not even at my peak yet as a fast bowler. Im always learning. I always feel like Im improving. And hopefully, in the future, I can play Tests and have better years ahead of me. Ive plenty of time left and plenty of overs left in my career and hopefully plenty more of them will be in Test cricket.
He admits that his desire to improve may, for a while, have been the cause of his problems. Too much thought, too much deliberation, too much time in the nets seemed to turn one of the most exciting fast bowling talents England had developed for years into another fast-medium seamer.
Trying to improve myself hindered me for a little while, he says. But as I became clear about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to bowl, I think Ive got that determination back to come back into the England team.
