A tune probably not sung frequently by fast bowlers as they return to their mark would be Que Sera Sera. Of course there have been pacemen both poetical and philosophical, musing on the absurdities of our summer game. John Snow had two books of poetry published; Frank Tyson, a graduate in English literature, is said to have quoted Wordsworth at batsmen rather than sledging them; our esteemed cricket correspondent has written many thousands of elegant words about the vagaries of bowling fast for a living.
However I hazard a guess that even this illustrious trio sometimes failed to recognise the bright side of life when their just desserts were not delivered out on the field of play. Their anguish might stem from a streaky batsman, a questionable umpiring decision or a dropped catch. As they harrumphed back to their mark after the latest injustice they were seldom heard mumbling “Ah well, whatever will be, will be”.
Steven Finn has always seemed one of the gentler breed of fast bowlers. Off the field he is unfailingly polite. On it when he tries to be ostentatiously aggressive he is rarely convincing.
It comes over as an act and Finn is no Benedict Cumberbatch. But there was no doubting the genuine nature of his exasperation on Friday afternoon.
Unexpectedly Finn had an opportunity to bowl at the Pakistan tail after Jimmy Anderson had been removed from the attack by the umpire Joel Wilson. (As it happens Anderson did not appear to respond to this occurrence with a refrain of Que Sera Sera, either. Instead he marched off to gully with the grim resignation of a footballer, who knew he was about to receive a second yellow card).
In this match Finn has bowled too many wide deliveries after falling away in his action; he has also beaten the outside edge of the bat with a few beauties. By mid-afternoon he could not entirely hide a sense of desperation (perhaps bowlers should be sent off to Rada so that they can feign indifference to the slings and arrows.) He must have been aware that he had yet to take a wicket in this series after bowling in three innings. This was contrary to his reputation, which is a handy one: the sort of bowler who picks up wickets even when he is not bowling particularlywell.
But now the tail was in and he had the ball in his hand. Rahat Ali is no Rameez Raja; he is a proper No11. Finn bounded in towards the city and propelled a full-length ball at Rahat, who prodded forward tentatively. At last the outside edge was found and the ball sped towards Alastair Cook at first slip at thigh height. Perfect. Finn’s duck would be broken. Cook has never picked up the arc of a cricket ball better than now; he is batting like a maestro. Perhaps that is what the England captain was thinking about when he spilled the catch.
At which point Finn was on his knees, his head in his hands; for a moment he looked as if he might beat the turf in despair. His anguish was all too palpable. He could not say much. In any case it was the captain who had dropped the catch and it is not generally a good idea to hurl abuse in his direction. A capacity Edgbaston crowd, which has been unusually subdued for the majority of this match, applauded warmly and in sympathy. For a moment that might have helped Finn but this could not alter the emptiness in the final column. Of course, Rahat was out soon afterwards. This time the slip catch was taken – by Joe Root – and the bowler was Stuart Broad, who is so much more worldly-wise than Finn.
Look at the figures, which will be our source for the story of this match in the decades to come. There we see Broad’s return: 30-4-83-3: hard, skilful toil ultimately rewarded; they look rather different to Finn’s none for 76.
Yet Broad has struggled in this game. Away-swing now seems a thing of the past for him; his pace is slightly reduced; those wonderful, streaky spells are now more unlikely. Yet Broad was able to seize his opportunity. With a couple of tailenders in his sights – Sohail Khan is no Aamer Sohail – he upped his game a little. He was on target; he almost bristled. And he would end up with two more wickets in his bag.
Finn had his chance against these tailenders too – even though Sarfraz Ahmed farmed much of the bowling. But one could sense the tension as he ran up to bowl either the fifth or sixth ball of his over to these batsmen. “At last. This is my chance. I have to get it on target now”. He seldom did.
However, he will have another chance in Pakistan’s second innings and on Friday night England’s bowlers would have been cheered at the ease with which Cook and Alex Hales knocked off the first-innings deficit. They may even have permitted themselves a weak smile and a wry, rather than a philosophical, observation. “I told you it was bloody flat.”
