On a day when 12 Pakistan A wickets fell in the same innings, the four taken by Steven Finn are likely to prove the most significant in the weeks to come.
England’s decision to rest James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood for the second of the two-day warm-up matches is a clear indication that Trevor Bayliss has already settled on his three seamers for next week’s opening Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. However, while Finn’s performance, taking four for 16 in 15 overs, may not prompt the coach into a rethink, it will certainly give him food for thought for the rest of the series.
Wood’s history of injuries means he is unlikely to play in all three Tests. Then there is Anderson. Despite his class – he is his country’s record Test wicket-taker after all – the leader of the attack has been the least impressive of England’s bowlers over both warm-up matches in Sharjah.
While it is unlikely, it is not beyond possibility Anderson could be left out for Abu Dhabi, especially as it is expected to be the most unresponsive of the three surfaces England’s seamers will face in the series. With four Tests in South Africa to consider later in the winter and the side injury that ruled Anderson out of the final two matches of the Ashes series still fresh in Bayliss’s mind, a case can be made for the 33-year-old missing out next week.
Finn is realistic and admits the odds are against him playing in the first Test, which starts on Tuesday. “I’d say I’ve staked a claim,” he said. “But I’d still be surprised if I played the first Test. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team that was picked the other day was the one for the first Test. But nothing is set in stone. If I am called on at any stage I’m ready to go.”
Finn has made a remarkable recovery from the bowler who lost his action and was sent home from England’s 2013-14 Ashes tour. After taking eight wickets against Australia in his first Test for two years at Edgbaston in the summer, he now looks the real deal again.
Unlike the surface that Wood, Anderson and Broad bowled on at the same ground earlier in the week, the pitch used for this match had much more life in it. Finn made the most of it – in the first over after lunch he found himself with figures of four for two from eight overs. Three of those dismissals were the result of good-length balls that induced edges. The fourth, to dismiss a batsman in Iftikhar Ahmed who had scored an unbeaten 92 against England on Tuesday, an lbw. Bayliss could not help but be impressed with Finn’s display and it means it should be a case of when rather than if he plays a part in the series.
“I don’t think the same bowling attack is going to play all the way through the series because of the conditions and the wickets we’re playing on,” Finn said. “So if you don’t play the first Test it’s not the end of the world because there’s two others in very quick succession to come.”
England named a much-changed team for this match, with Alastair Cook and Joe Root, who both scored half-centuries in the tour opener, rested along with the three seamers as Bayliss sought to give all 16 members of the squad time in the middle before the series begins. That means Alex Hales will have a chance to state his case for the vacant opening position when England bat tomorrow . Moeen Ali is still the preferred option to partner Cook at the top of the order despite scoring only 22 earlier in the week. It is understood, though, that England are prepared to rethink that if Hales makes an irresistible case for his inclusion.
There was some positive news, too, for Adil Rashid. The Yorkshire leg-spinner, who is set to make his Test debut next week, went wicketless in the opening match but he took three for 53 from 19 overs here, the first – Sami Aslam – coming from his googly. Samit Patel and Liam Plunkett also picked up two wickets each.
Yet the farcical nature of the match meant three Pakistan A players batted twice – including Ali Asad, who after being dismissed for nought by Finn and then Plunkett, is possibly the first international cricketer to bag a pair in the same innings on the same day.
