Steven Finn has explained how life has taken a turn for the better since his dramatic return to England colours. “Just walking up and down the street over the last couple of days people stop you and say ‘we’re proud of you’ and it’s lovely,” said Finn when speaking at an Investec function. “If we can put smiles on people’s faces then that is fantastic. Six months ago no one stopped me, no one said ‘hello’ other than those hanging off scaffolding and abusing me.”
An unexpected part of Finn’s armoury since his return has been his ability to find so much swing. “I have not swung a ball like that for a long time – since I was a kid. The conditions have obviously helped and long may it continue. I have worked hard at swinging the ball over the last year but sometimes it felt that I was sacrificing pace to do so. Something clicked in a game against Somerset [he took four for 41]. Richard Johnson [the Middlesex bowling coach] has been encouraging me for a long time to give it a go but I never had the confidence to do it.
Finn, a gentle giant of a fast bowler, is more confident now as he pursues his 100th Test wicket. That landmark would have been achieved but for him overstepping in the last Test. “I would have been pleased if I had stayed behind the line at Trent Bridge. What an idiot. It was weird. Everyone from that end was pushing the line for the whole game. I took my run up 60cm back from where it would usually be and I was still pushing the line. I don’t know whether it was the adrenaline or the wind gusting. I was so frustrated not to get the 100th wicket because it would have opened up the game for us. If and when I get it I will be hugely delighted because I have been out of the team for along time and they are the sort of moments you cherish.”
Finn looks to the future eagerly now. “We have exciting players in the dressing room. But it is important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves. We have done that before when we got to No1 in the world. We started to think about legacies, looking too far ahead and I am not comfortable with that sort of thing. Why we have done so well and won people back to cricket this summer is that we have taken every day as it comes. We have played with smiles on our faces and it has brought the best out of us.”
