FINN NEEDS BOWLING NOT WEIGHTLIFTING

• Posted: July 26, 2010
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• Author: Simon Hughes
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• Filed under: Cricket Analyst
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• Tags: England, simon hughes, Steven Finn, the analyst, The Ashes

Six weeks ago Steven Finn was on Cloud 9. His name had been inscribed on the honours board at Lords, alongside the greats like Trueman and Botham and Bedser and Willis, for his five wicket haul against Bangladesh. Bowling with great rhythm and confidence he had finished with 15 wickets in two tests and was named England’s man of the series. He was being feted as the best young fast bowler in the world, compared favourably to a fledgling Glenn McGrath, and promoted as the lofty pillar around which England’s defence o f the Ashes this winter would be built.

And then he was hauled back down to earth and stabled for six weeks, like a feisty young horse that has just won the Derby and needs sedating for a while. Given an extensive fitness course by the England management, he has spent much of the last month couped up in gyms or dressing rooms champing at the bit. When he was finally let loose for Middlesex at Uxbridge last week he was predictably a little short of a gallop, though there were signs in the Sussex second innings that everything was starting to click again. But he will re-enter the test match ring again on Thursday somewhat less certain of himself than before.

Despite  the good intentions of the England strength and conditioning people, partly reacting to Finn’s habit of sprawling to the ground in his follow through, his calculated withdrawal may be counter productive. Neither his coaches and colleagues at Middlesex nor Finn himself welcomed it (though Finn obediently did everything that was asked of him.) Stuart Broad might have returned from his mini-break refreshed, stronger and faster, but he is at a more advanced stage of his bowling development.  He knows his game, and the responsibilities that spearheading a test attack brings. Finn, for all his willing and observant nature, is a novice.

It may be a cliché, but the only way to get properly fit for bowling is by bowling.  It is not just the physical fitness. It is the mental toughness to be able to bowl your 24^th over of the day as hard and as optimistically as your first..  It is about understanding your body and steering it through a hard day’s cricket. It is about gearing yourself up to bowl at crucial moments or on different surfaces or at batsmen who have unusual techniques. It is about learning strategies for different match situations and trying out different methods. It is, in short, about getting to know yourself as a bowler. You can’t do that in the gym, or on the running track or in the swimming pool. You can only do it on the field. In mine and most bowlers’ experience it takes until at least their mid 20s to acquire that self knowledge.

Finn has all the raw materials to be a match-winning test bowler. He has enough pace, extracts considerable bounce from his 6ft 8in frame, and bowls a consistent line and length with a beautifully oiled action. He just lacks experience. Interestingly, he had never bowled as many as 27 overs in a day until last Wednesday. Though he handled the work load well, he bowled the wrong length initially, and sent down three erratic overs the next morning before a brief  consultation with Angus Fraser got him back on track after lunch. Later he bowled 12 overs off the reel. It was if he, or his captain, was trying to pack all his bowling education into one match. He certainly finished the game in better form than he started it, but there is a overriding feeling that the momentum he had achieved in the early part of the season has been stalled.

Professional cricketers are creatures of routine, their bio rhythms conforming to the regular hours of play.   For the last month Finn has had no structure to his life and has looked a little lost. He has missed an important month of his career when, while at the top of his game, he could have discovered what he was capable of. After the intervention of the sports scientists he now has a slightly stronger body but his cricketing development has been retarded. Obviously this has been done with a focus on the winter’s Ashes. But ultimately is it better to have a super fit bowler or a wicket-taking one?

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