Pace ace now at a crossroads

LONDON: This Ashes series was supposed to represent a shot at redemption for Steven Finn, a chance to prove to the unforgiving Australian cricketing public he had recovered from the all-too-public humiliation the last time England toured the country. Then he was sent home after suffering the deep ignominy of being deemed “unselectable.” The word was he couldn’t land the ball on the cut strip.

Once again he’s departed the tour early, this time before a ball has barely been bowled, and this time because of rotten luck with injury.

He boards the long flight back to England with his international career very much at the crossroads. He’ll have a long time to think on the way home about where he goes next. He’ll be 32 the next time the Ashes series comes round in Australia and he’s likely to have been leapfrogged in the pecking order by the battery of young fast bowlers England are grooming to succeed Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

He was once the spearhead of England’s white-ball team but he can’t get a look in that side now, even though it’s captained by his big mate Eoin Morgan.

He should really be at the peak of his powers, fulfilling the kind of promise that saw him make his Test debut at the age of 20, named ICC Emerging Player of the Year and become the fastest Englishman to 50 Test wickets.

Now 28, it’s hard to believe he’s only played 27 Tests in the seven years since he first toured Australia and took a sixfor on his Ashes debut. He should really have been the anointed successor to Steve Harmison but he was only on this tour because Toby Roland-Jones is injured and Ben Stokes is unavailable.

If we are being brutally honest, he was probably only going to be carrying the drinks so, in truth, the injury is likely to be more of a blow to Finn than it is to England.