Unflappable Steven Finn ready to Bridge the gap in fourth Ashes Test

David Clough 14:39 05/08/2015
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  • Steven Finn has made a splendid return to the England Test squad.

    Steven Finn knows expectations will be raised for his Edgbaston follow-up at Trent Bridge – especially in the absence of James Anderson – and he is embracing the extra responsibility.

    Just one Test into what is being depicted as the second phase of Finn’s Test career – after a two-year hiatus and loss of form – he needs two more wickets to reach 100.

    After a match haul of eight in the third Test as England went 2-1 up with two to play in the Ashes, the fast bowler’s confidence is high again.

    It is questionable whether Finn might have been similarly unfazed at any other point since his previous Test, also in Nottingham at the start of the 2013 Ashes, at the prospect of filling the void left by England’s all-time leading wicket-taker in such a crucial match.

    But, still only 26, there is wisdom born of adversity as well as success as he looks forward to what should be his best years to come – and sets his sights on an Anderson-like status as an inked-in name on the team sheet.

    He can consolidate the process by making sure, after his man-of-the-match performance in Birmingham, that Anderson’s unavailability because of the side strain he suffered last week does not cost England dear in their bid to regain the urn.

    “I’ve nicked his place in the dressing room, so there’s a bit of pressure on me to take the wickets he’s taken,” said Finn.

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    Anderson has 53 of them on his Trent Bridge Test CV, in fact, at under 20 each – so the bar is high.

    “There’s more responsibility,” Finn added. “We’re all as a bowling unit going to have to step up – bec-ause he will be sorely missed.

    “That’s everyone’s responsibility in the attack, not (just) mine.”

    Finn has a wonderful opportunity to be centre stage in an Ashes series victory, but longer-term ambitions too of course.

    It is not so long ago – when he was deemed ‘unselectable’ by coaching staff in early 2014, for example, or in tears at Edgbaston after an ineffective spell for Middlesex against Warwickshire – that his resurgence might have seemed implausible.

    It is more than a dream these days, though, to be assured of his place in England’s best team. 

    “I would love to do that one day –that’s a massive ambition of mine,” he said. 

    “I’ve always wanted to be a dead cert in an England team. My driving ambition has been to get to that place. At the moment I’m very much a support player, I suppose (I want to) keep building (on my performances) so it comes to a stage where you are a name on a team sheet rather than a bloke with a question mark against you.”

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