TOUR BOOZING DID FINN NO FAVOURS

STEVEN FINN says the current England team drink considerably less than the one that toured Australia in 2010-11. ‘There was a lot of alcohol on that tour,’ he recalled this week. ‘There was lots of going out — way, way more than happens under this regime.’ The underlying coda being, we drank, and we won. England defeated Australia 31 in that series. Yet Finn (right) did not play after Perth, when Australia tied the series 1-1. He was dropped for being too expensive. Some might argue that was the start of his problems, in and out of the England team, action failings, inconsistency. The rules governing no balls were actually changed to take in Finn’s unfortunate habit of clipping the stumps with his trailing right knee. He was sent home from the last Ashes tour after oneday coach Ashley Giles said the technical issues made it impossible to select him. Put it like this, there are better adverts for the harddrinking tour lifestyle than Finn. Maybe he needed a few more

nights in.