Steven Finn, who has not played Test cricket since the start of the 2013 Investec Ashes series, was recalled to the squad ahead of the Cardiff Test, which begins on Wednesday.
He might not find a place in the final eleven unless one of the other seamers sustains an injury. Finn believes that he is yet to deliver his best as international cricketer. He is delighted to have finally fought his way back into the reckoning after a lean patch led to his exclusion from the squad. He feels that his next game will be “like making another debut”.
Finn has 90 Test wickets to his name with an impressive strike rate of 48.30. He had burst on to the scene in 2010 and showed promise and skills to match the best in the business but in the 2013-2014 ashes, he looked a shadow of his usual self.
Ashley Giles, England’s limited-overs coach, described Finn as “not selectable” in his explanation on 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. It earned him some criticism, though Finn understands it wasn’t meant to hurt him. Finn, in this Ashes, hopes to rise from the ashes and deliver the goods for his nation.
