Ashes 2013/14: Where Has It All Gone Wrong for Steven Finn?

“What did you dream? It’s alright we told you what to dream.”

- Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine

Those who saw it said it was terrible. Those who read of it winced. This week, shrouded by yet another batting failure and more immediate concerns, Steven Finn bowled a pair of spells that some believe could rule him out of selection for the entire Ashes series. Too short and too wide, Finn wasted the new ball before being thrashed around later in the day by a 20-year old tail-ender to take his innings economy rate to above four - he was but a shadow of the world-beating bowler he’s at times suggested he could become.

For a management who pride themselves on attention to detail, planning and preparation, Finn’s faltering career is perhaps their biggest failure. Having come into the side as a bowler of immense potential in February 2010, and after three years of inconsistent selection across all three formats, Finn now stands on the very edge of England’s plans, his action riddled with flaws, his confidence shot and his pace well down on the possibilities suggested by his 6'7" hulking, muscular frame.

Finn has always been a prodigal bowler. His Test economy rate of 3.65 is well above that of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett, and his disposition to give away cheap runs is deep-set. Such profligate bowling is well distanced from the strategy of the economical, pressure-building, run-starving concept that Andy Flower and England are so keen on. That Tim Bresnan is the favoured third-seamer and is everything Finn is not; resourceful, economical and efficient, speaks volumes of Finn’s predicament under the current management mind-set.

Indeed, Finn’s struggles are perhaps emblematic of the more deep-set problem with England’s selection and management policy, and that is of the homogenisation of skills. Cricketers, like people, are all different, and while there’s certainly merit in selecting those who dove-tail with a particular strategy or tactic, there’s also a danger that doing so will see talent abandoned simply because it doesn't fit with the predominant paradigm in the setup. There should always be room for mavericks in sport; they separate the merely good teams from the great.

Much like Broad and Anderson before him, coaches have sought to redefine Finn’s role and action, instructing him to bowl a Glenn McGrath-esque line and length - sacrificing pace for accuracy. And his struggles were compounded late last year when he began knocking the stumps in delivery and was regularly dead-balled as a result—a shorter run-up followed, but was abandoned not long after as he searched fruitlessly for rhythm in his action. Now, having been out of the side since a horror first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, he stands in the wilderness.

	Average	Strike-Rate	Economy Rate	Tests
Anderson	30.35	58.8	3.09	88
Broad	30.10	58.5	3.08	63
Finn	29.40	48.3	3.65	23

Finn’s Test strike-rate and average are better than Anderson’s, Broad’s, and Bresnan’s. Finn is a wicket-taker—an expensive one, admittedly, but a wicket-taker all the same. He’s also flirted with speeds in and above 90 mph—a rare trait for a modern bowler. There is certainly a case to be made that England have sought to mould Finn into something he’s not, and they and him have suffered as a result.

A raw, back-to-his-best Finn offers England something they don't otherwise have; a strike bowler with venom and pace. Admittedly, long gone are the days where Finn could consistently bowl 90 mph, but a liberalisation of coaching and pressure could help him rediscover such potent weapons—he’s still only 24 years old. Indeed, a liberalisation of attitudes more generally amongst the England selectors and management is perhaps essential to ensure talented players who don’t conform to strategy or principle are not thrown by the wayside.