‘ There is a flaw in Finn’s technique’
“Dead ball” — screamed umpire Steve Davis as England bowler Steven Finn dislodged the bails at the non- striker’s end on his delivery stride in the last ODI at Mohali. The match was in the balance as Suresh Raina was caught by England captain Alastair Cook when the umpire signalled dead ball.
Finn, who has been making this a habit, was frustrated with the call. But, according to Ian Pont, the one time coach of Finn at Middlesex, the problem for Finn is that he collapses his back knee sideways into the stumps, instead of going forward towards the batsman.
Speaking from Dhaka, where Pont is a head coach for one of the BPL teams, he said, “It is highly desirable for generating speed to collapse your back leg so your energy is blocked by a straight front leg, and creates a large ‘ braking force’. However, Finn’s back foot doesn’t twist forward before he lands his front foot.”
“The solution would be to rotate his foot, so his knee and his hip turn forward towards the batsman. The feeling would be as if he is trying to screw his back foot onto the ground before he lands his front foot. This can be achieved by doing specific drills in the nets and away from nets, and then simply bowl in a match and not think about it,” he said.
“He ( Finn) will not be able to make huge changes by bowling a ball to a batsman and worrying about his action. This is a common mistake by coaches — not understanding to make positive improvements in bowlers. Instead they will just leave them alone because they don’t know the solution, or how to bring in the drills and do them correctly.”
In Finn’s case it is a matter of not knowing what to do. “When it comes to batting, we all accept that technical work is vital but with fast bowlers, the mentality is completely different. Bowlers are ‘ left alone’ to develop poor habits, unsafe actions and other issues that lead to a loss of pace or injury. Sometimes one improvement can save a career, or with Finn, help him eliminate a misalignment of his body position that is stopping him from taking every wicket he deserves,” believes Pont.