Sharp Finn's commitment is starting to bowl over England

[Karan114]

Sharp Finn's commitment is starting to bowl over England While his teammates had a two-month break, Finn took himself to New Zealand to make sure he was was prepared to seize his England opportunity By Dean Wilson Watching Steven Finn rip through the Pakistan top order in the first one day international spoke volumes for him and his attitude to his career. He bowled quickly and with accuracy to take his best ever figures in a one dayer and the joy was unconfined with each of his four scalps. It was the weeks of frustration at being on the sidelines which all came pouring out as he did what he does best and bowl in a cricket match. For some cricketers there seems to be a point in their career when they are not quite the best of the best but they are good enough to get picked in the squad and spend their lives travelling with the England team but not actually playing much. It used to happen to James Anderson quite a lot, also to Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan in the recent past, but they accept their time will come when the drinks are carried by someone else. It is happening to Finn quite a bit at the moment and while he should get a run of one day games now he is still desperately trying to force his way into the Test side which he will surely do soon enough. In the meantime what does he do? Well in November he took himself off to New Zealand to play for the Otago Volts in between the India one dayers and the tour to the UAE. He did it because everything that he does is with the express aim of making him a better bowler and more useful to England and the results are already beginning to show. Everyone else had at least a two month break, not him, he wasn't tired and knew he needed to keep bowling to make sure he stayed sharp. And for some reason when I see him bowl as well as he did in the first one dayer I think of a Christmas lunch at Lord's in December. I was enjoying a glass of wine in the pavilion when in walked Steve and Alastair Cook as the guests of honour at the lunch, he caught my eye and came over for a chat. He told me he was all over the place because earlier that morning he had just landed back from New Zealand and was suffering from a bit of jet lag. He hadn't quite realised that he was only going to have a few hours between landing and fulfilling a sponsors engagement, but instead of bailing out as many would have, he still turned up since he thought it was the right thing to do. 廎 might put my face in my soup I'm so tired, but at least the guests will have a funny story to tell afterwards, he said with a smile. It sums him up. The commitment to his bowling to go the extra mile, and the decency to not let people down. Finn knew he needed to keep playing to give himself the best chance of doing well and impressing if he got the chance. He knew that England careers don't come along all that often and if you're lucky enough to get one you have to do whatever you can to keep it. Finn's performance on Monday was just his first of the year, but it was deserved because of what had gone before it, and if he keeps on heading down his current track it will be the first of many many more. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/dean-wilson-opinion-steven-finn-684535

[maverick451]

He sounds like a really good honest lad, really impressed with him in the last year, he's moved from being medium fast to an out an out pace bowler.

[daryl1985]

He showed a lot of aggression in the ODI series in India which was unlike him but there was a lot of needle between the two sides. From what i have seen of him he seems like a very hard working and nice lad. England have a potential gem on their hands. I really hope he develops and becomes the world class bowler he can be.

[chainsmoker1985]

Anyone here knows at what speeds he was bowling in first ODI against Pakistan? And what length he was bowling? He was a bit short in his matches against India in India

[Old guy]

Anyone here knows at what speeds he was bowling in first ODI against Pakistan? And what length he was bowling? He was a bit short in his matches against India in India

145..was the fastest i saw but didnt saw the whole match and lengths hmm it was perfect for wicket and height got it to move lil bit even in his 2nd spell not much..

[daryl1985]

Anyone here knows at what speeds he was bowling in first ODI against Pakistan? And what length he was bowling? He was a bit short in his matches against India in India

140-145ish. However, bowlers speeds always seem to be slightly down in the Middle East.

[chainsmoker1985]

145..was the fastest i saw but didnt saw the whole match and lengths hmm it was perfect for wicket and height got it to move lil bit even in his 2nd spell not much..

140-145ish. However' date=' bowlers speeds always seem to be slightly down in the Middle East.[/quote'] Thanx. Well, he is one of the most improved bowlers in the world today. Wonder, he still is not a certainty in the England playing 11

[daryl1985]

Thanx. Well' date=' he is one of the most improved bowlers in the world today. Wonder, he still is not a certainty in the England playing 11[/quote'] It's a matter of time before he breaks into the test team. He has to get past Bresnan who has performed unbelievably well when he has played but has gone past Tremlett in the pecking order IMO. An attack of Anderson, Broad, Bresnan/Finn and Swann is a very good one.

[chainsmoker1985]

It's a matter of time before he breaks into the test team. He has to get past Bresnan who has performed unbelievably well when he has played but has gone past Tremlett in the pecking order IMO. An attack of Anderson' date=' Broad, Bresnan/Finn and Swann is a very good one.[/quote'] Let me tell you, Bresnan will stay in the team but emergence of Finn can end the career of Anderson soon.

[Old guy]

bresnan with his reverse swing u dont know how valuable he is!

[CG]

bresnan with his reverse swing u dont know how valuable he is!

bresnan is more valuable than finn if you are take bresnan batting in to account ,But as bowlers finn has 10ks on bresnan and finn also reverse swings the ball.

[Old guy]

bresnan is more valuable than finn if you are take bresnan batting in to account ' date='But as bowlers finn has 10ks on bresnan and finn also reverse swings the ball.[/quote'] any one can reverse it but not all bowlers us it well and reverse it that much finn in future would be gr8 but right now bresnan is little better test bowler finn can still be expensive and england go for contrl.. they dont like to give too many runs.. even when they dont pick wickets they keeep run rate down..

[indiaregulator]

Steven Finn Is a gun. Discuss.

[Ultimate_Game]

Great find for Eng but IMO we handled him much better when he toured India during the 5-0 whitewash

[bajrang]

off 5 matches he played, dhoni, kohli, raina clobbered him and vinay kumar outperformed him in bowling. but then pakistani batsmen can make any bowler look good.

[daryl1985]

He bowled very well in India and was unlucky not to get more wickets. Some of the Indian batsman played him well but he still had a fine tour, considering the performance of his team mates.

[Show_stopper]

He was clobbered by us in the Eng ODI series as well...esp in the 4th ODI. However, he looks a mighty fine prospect especially in the longer format.

[Ultimate_Game]

He bowled very well in India and was unlucky not to get more wickets. Some of the Indian batsman played him well but he still had a fine tour' date=' considering the performance of his team mates.[/quote'] Concur fully. He was by far the best Eng bowler but we still managed to play him quite well and generally clobbered him in his 2nd spell at the death.

[ganeshran]

He bowled very well in the initial overs and picked up wickets too. Didnt do that well in the second spell because by the time he came back to bowl, there was a partnership going on which negotiated him quite easily. Had he encountered batsmen who were not set during his second spell, he would have returned better figures

[Sarkar]

Even our c team handled him better