Steven Finn has been put through his paces in the last couple of days © Getty Images
Steven Finn was satisfied to have been given a tough work-out in humid conditions, as England’s bowlers completed their first full day’s match practice ahead of the first Test in Chittagong next week.
Finn, who bowled six overs in England’s truncated 45-over-a-side warm-up on Saturday, added another ten today, and though he has yet to take a wicket on tour, he said he was happy with his rhythm even though he recognises that life for the seam bowlers is likely to be tough in the coming weeks.
“I think we’ll have to readjust our expectations of what the new ball is going to do over here,” he said. “The new ball, with the way there’s no conventional swing, the hardness of the ball seems to make it come onto the ball a little bit better.
“I think the first three hours are the warmest and then it seems to tail off in the afternoon a little bit. Those first two hours were very, very hot. [We will have to see] whether we change our gameplan a little bit and be slightly more defensive and wait for them to come to us.
“We could have been quicker to realise the fact we couldn’t attack so much with the new ball, but I think the way we addressed it, and after that the way we stuck to our plans, was really good. We dried them up and you can cause rash shots through drying their batsmen up.”
As might have been expected, it was England’s spinners who eventually claimed the bulk of the wickets, with Zafar Ansari picking up four and Gareth Batty two in the BCB XI’s total of 294. One of those two men is likely to link up with Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid to complete a three-man spin attack, which means Finn could be forced to wait for his opportunity for a Test recall.
“I sort of viewed these two games as an opportunity for me to show what I can do,” he said. “I do enjoy bowling in the subcontinent, I enjoy the reverse swing aspect of it, I enjoy the fact that you have to put in to get something out of the wicket.
“I think I’ve got a relatively good record in the subcontinent, so I just wanted to come and put my hand up.
“Realistically, I’m probably outside of those top three seamers at the moment because of the way [Chris] Woakes, [Stuart] Broad and [Ben] Stokes have bowled in the summer but I think that my job, and anyone on the fringe of the squad, is just to keep pushing and keep trying to put your hand up to get in the team.
“I felt in good rhythm today, I felt in good rhythm in the nets, it’s just about keeping your name out there. I felt rushed a little bit in my first spell but adjusted that to the second spell and felt good today, where it’s just about having a really simple gameplan.”
As for the form of the spinners, Finn was impressed by what he had seen. “I thought they went really well,” he said. “I like Gareth Batty’s improvement in every format of cricket. He’s a real experienced head to talk to the other spinners whilst he’s been here and he’s been great.
“I thought Zafar has bowled with a really good pace over the last two days, was aggressive and the way he spun the ball for a finger [spinner] was really good, and Mo bowled like Mo does today and I thought he bowled a good solid nine-over spell.
“I think everyone’s in good order going into the first Test match and if we get a good day’s batting under our belts tomorrow, we’ll be really well equipped to go and win this Test.”
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo