ASHES ABUSE IS WEARING FINN

Pace star: Scars have healed after my hell on Aussie tour

ENGLAND’S new fast bowling coach is Chris Silverwood.

The Essex head coach replaces Ottis Gibson, who is now in charge of South Africa. JOHN HIGGINS has Yan Bingtao up next in China today, labelling the 17-year-old “a special talent.” The International Championship has seen Yan thrash Ronnie O’sullivan. STEVEN FINN has not sent a ball down at any Aussie yet, but he is already bristling with intent.

Finn was a late call-up for this tour following the Ben Stokes rumpus, but now that he is here, he is focused on doing a job that is a world away from his last Ashes experience.

Deemed ‘unselectable’ by the then England one-day coach Ashley Giles, Finn (right) was sent home early for remedial work on his action that gave him another shot at international glory.

He has had an up and down time of it since then, but reminders of his 2013/14 difficulties serve only to fix his stare with a tongue-lashing to follow up.

“To be honest I’m getting pretty bored and sick of talking about it,” said Finn.

“I’ve played in an Ashes series, got man of the match in an Ashes Test, won an Ashes series, played down here since then, so I think any psychological scars that people wanted to talk about I’ve pretty well proved are not there.

“It happened. Everyone has peaks and troughs in their career. Maybe it wasn’t an ideal circumstance for it to happen but it was good for me in my career because I went back and realised what made me a good bowler.

“I was able to go back to the drawing board and work on the basics of my bowling and realise what made me good.

“Fundamentally, it wasn’t an ideal experience to come out and not play a

Test match but to get the opportunity to go back and work on the things that made me good was the best thing for me.

“I was searching for things that weren’t actually there and you go back to the drawing board and realise those attributes you have will serve you well in Australian conditions.”

Finn’s attributes are his pace, height and occasional movement off the seam when he is in the groove. They are what earned him 14 wickets in three games in 2010, including a sixfor (above) at Brisbane.

But despite having 36 caps to his name he starts this tour behind Jake Ball and Craig Overton in battling it out to replace Stokes in the final XI.

“You are are going to be naturally disappointed when you’re not picked in the squad,” he added.

“But I knew that an Ashes series is a long time and there’s always a chance of a call-up. Conditions do suit me and I know that if I bowl to the top of my ability and I get an opportunity in this series I can do myself justice.”