He has not played a Test in two years but Steven Finn is back in England’s Ashes planning and believes the best is yet to come

George Dobell04-Jul-2015Steven 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.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, England’s 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 publically. It earned him some criticism, though Finn understands it was meant benevolently.Finn unaware of Rogers’ ticket scheme

Steven Finn has confirmed that he knew nothing of Chris Rogers’ plans to sell hospitality packages at the Lord’s Ashes Test.
Rogers, the Australia opener, was embarrassed last month after it emerged he was trying to sell on tickets for the game he had gained through contacts at Middlesex – something that is against the regulations. In his explanation, he claimed that he had cleared the plan with “everyone” at the club and that he had anticipated personal appearances from other players such as Finn as part of the hospitality events.
But Finn had no idea about the scheme, which the MCC is currently investigating. And while he says he would have been happy to help Rogers if required, he does admit he was surprised by when his name was mentioned in connection with the plan.
“Yes, I was surprised because I had no idea about it,” Finn said. “We’ve spoken about it since and there’s no animosity between us.
“We’re friends and if he wanted me to go and meet people and say hello to people he’d brought over then so be it. I’d do it because I’m a friend. I wasn’t ever giving tickets away because my family would want to come and watch if I was playing.
“I didn’t really have an idea about it but if he’d have asked for my help I would have helped because I’m a friend.”

“It wasn’t meant in a derogatory way,” Finn says now. “I had a testing period. It wasn’t pleasant. But overall it’s 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 Finn’s issues – and it would appear that attempts to shorten his run-up and help him avoid crashing into the non-striker’s 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 England’s “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 don’t think I ever doubted I’d 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 I’ve had success at international cricket. My record speaks for itself in all formats.”I certainly hope the best is ahead. I’m only 26. I’m not even at my peak yet as a fast bowler. I’m always learning. I always feel like I’m improving. And hopefully, in the future, I can play Tests and have better years ahead of me. I’ve 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 I’ve got that determination back to come back into the England team.”When I was left out after the Trent Bridge Test of 2013 I had a burning desire that I didn’t want it to be my last Test. It would have been easy to go back to county cricket, rest on my laurels and not try and improve.”Steven Finn last played a Test during the 2013 Investec Ashes•Getty ImagesHe credits his recovery, in part, to the hard work of two bowling coaches. While his name-check of Richard Johnson, the Middlesex bowling coach, is no surprise, the mention of Kevin Shine, the sometimes maligned ECB coach at Loughborough, is more of a surprise. Finn is grateful to them both.”I’m indebted to those guys,” he says. “They put in hours and hours of early mornings with me bowling through to a mitt, or to a stump and watching and giving feedback. I’m very grateful to the way those guys have given their time so selflessly to me after the last 18 months. Hopefully I can repay that faith in performances in an England shirt.”Finn remembers England winning back the Ashes in 2005 very well. Not only was he taking his GCSEs that summer, but he made his first-class debut for Middlesex as a 16-year-old. He was the youngest man to do so since Fred Titmus in 1949. Now, having experienced the outpouring of support from spectators after the much-improved ODI performances against New Zealand, he is “desperate” to be part of an Ashes-winning side that can inspire in the same way the side of 2005 managed.”We’re desperate to win back the Ashes,” he says. “We’ve seen how much the home crowd have been behind us this summer – there’s been a big turnaround in people’s attitude towards us – and we want to make those people proud.”I’ve never seen a crowd get behind us as much as they did in the one-day series against New Zealand. You can be walking down the street and people will say ‘we’re loving the way you’re playing your cricket, you’re making us proud’ and that’s something we have to continue.”