“To be quite frank, I am sick of talking about the past,” says Steven Finn, the man of the match in England’s eight-wicket win at Edgbaston, when he went from “unselectable” to irresistible after two years out of the Test side.
“That has been and gone. All I am thinking about is what is happening in the future and the fact that I have been bowling well. That’s the only thing occupying my mind at the moment.”
Finn’s abruptness is as close as you will get to seeing his angry side, with the 26-year-old right-armer a gentle soul who prefers his skills to do the talking out in the middle without the glares and scowls of your standard nasty-fasty.
His recent past – battling back after being flown home from the Australia tour of 2013-14 amid a crisis in his bowling action – has been well documented after his eye-catching eight-wicket comeback at Edgbaston that powered England to their 2-1 series lead going into Thursday’s fourth Test at Trent Bridge.
Finn puts the genesis of his previous problems down to the shortened run-up that was first tested in the winter of 2013, the intention of which was to counter the habit he had developed of knocking a leg into the stumps at the non-striker’s end that even led to a change in laws of the game.
From there things unravelled, with Finn admitting “a few calamitous decisions” were made along the way, and by the time the Ashes tour to Australia came round, he had lost confidence in his action while searching for “a golden nugget of information” that would remedy things – before being sent home by the then one-day coach Ashley Giles.
Should David Saker, the former England bowling coach, be blamed for this initial spot of tinkering? “It’s not his fault,” Finn replies. How about Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain who made the initial fuss about Finn’s stump-clattering during the second Test at Headingley in 2012? “No, blame me.”
Taking personal responsibility has been the key to Finn’s return and while he insists reports of “the yips” were exaggerated, it required hours of work with the Middlesex bowling coach, Richard Johnson, and the England and Wales Cricket Board’s lead fast-bowling coach, Kevin Shine, to relearn the skills that once came so naturally to him.
“It was a long process and I have by no means cracked it yet,” Finn said at an appearance for the series sponsors, Investec. “I have had one good game but you need to back it up to prove that you’ve got it, I suppose, and that is very much what I want to do this week.”
Back at Trent Bridge – the scene of his final Test in 2013 before that two-year hiatus, where, like last week, he was on a hat-trick at one stage – Finn is now suddenly elevated to second-in-command to Stuart Broad as a result of Jimmy Anderson’s side strain and will vie with Mark Wood – if fit – for the new ball.
“I’ve nicked Jimmy’s spot in the dressing room, so there’s a bit of pressure on me to take the wickets he’s taken,” Finn says. “He’s going to be around during the Test and his expertise of bowling here will be fantastic. Everyone will be tapping into him over the next couple of days to talk about how to get those 20 wickets.”
Broad, who sits one wicket short of 300 but plays his first Test without Anderson since Lord’s in 2011, is in agreement. “It’s a great decision to have Jimmy around this week. He extracts the most out of this wicket than any bowler I have seen – and not just swing.”
Does Finn, going into his 25th Test, two short of 100 wickets, fancy stepping up to this unofficial but important role one day? “I would love to do that – it’s a massive ambition of mine,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to be a dead cert in an England team.
“I’m not looking too far in the future, though. I’m just building on my performance from last week 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.”
