The last couple of days of the Lord's Test were all I managed to see, but it was enough to forcefully remind me of the talents of two young players of very similar ages, but vastly differing backgrounds and abilities.
Tamim Iqbal is the best batsman Bangladesh has produced in the decade since it became a Test-playing country. As an attacking Asian opener he will inevitably be compared to Sehwag, but as the pundits were saying yesterday, a more precise comparison, on account of his stature, his left-handedness and his penchant for the hook, would be with the late Roy Fredericks. Tamim is the player around whom Bangladesh can build their improving batting for a long time to come, but for the moment it'll be enough to for the rest of us to enjoy the brilliance of his strokeplay and the spontaneity of his celebrations, for there will be many more to come.
Steven Finn, of course, can really bowl. But the comparisons with Glenn McGrath which everyone seems to have been drawing seem to me to be the product of wishful thinking, based partly on Finn's self-professed admiration for him and the fact that Finn's so tantalisingly good. For me, a better comparison is with Finn's county coach Angus Fraser, although time will surely reveal Finn to have been the quicker and more penetrative operator.
Finn also comes across in interview as confident, mature and articulate, with the type of self-deprecation which is bound to endear him to English audiences. After receiving the match award this afternoon he said something about only filling in for Stuart Broad, and implied that he thought he might not be selected again in a hurry.
Steven, I've got news for you. This was only the start. You're going to be in the England side for a very, very, long time.
Showing posts with label Steven Finn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steven Finn. Show all posts
31.5.10
23.9.07
A Tale of Two Players
Watching the Pro 40 play-off between Middlesex and Northants at Southgate this afternoon on Sky, two players stood out.
The first, the 18 year-old Middlesex seam bowler Steven Finn, looks a very good bet to be an international bowler of the future, despite the fact that Bob Willis appears to have taken a particular liking to him.
He's tall and generates good pace, seam movement and occasionally disconcerting bounce from a straight, rhythmic run and a high delivery stride which is slightly, but not excessively, chest-on, in the modern vogue. He's slim but will surely develop further physically over the next few years. I saw him bowl equally well in the flesh last Saturday at Taunton and both three-wicket spells augured well for what he could do in the future on more helpful pitches and with more overs at his disposal.
When presenting Finn with the match award the normally gloomy Willis said something about him soon being in the England side. Premature and tempting fate, I thought, but equally, I wouldn't be surprised to see him there sooner rather than later. Finn himself, who only left school a couple of months ago, said that he'd be delaying going to university so that he can play full-time next season. I'll be surprised if he ever gets to university, unless it's after a long and successful career in the first-class game.
David Sales, the most polished batsman on show, is at a very different stage in his career. Although undoubtedly one of the most talented English batsmen of his generation and the youngest player from this country to make both first-class double and triple-centuries, he's never got very near to an England cap. It's hard to say why, other than some consistency issues earlier in his career, a dreadful knee injury which cost him a whole year's cricket and the fact that he's spent his entire career at Northampton, never an easy place from which to get noticed by selectors, especially these days.
Rising thirty now, Sales remains an uncomplicated and powerful striker of the ball with the type of assured temperament which I think would have stood him in good stead at international level. It's unlikely now that he'll ever get the opportunity and you can't help feeling that at the end of his career we'll be left to wonder how more than one player with a good deal less natural ability - Nasser Hussain, Paul Collingwood - knows what it is to make a Test match double-century when Sales doesn't even know what it is to wear an England cap.
The first, the 18 year-old Middlesex seam bowler Steven Finn, looks a very good bet to be an international bowler of the future, despite the fact that Bob Willis appears to have taken a particular liking to him.
He's tall and generates good pace, seam movement and occasionally disconcerting bounce from a straight, rhythmic run and a high delivery stride which is slightly, but not excessively, chest-on, in the modern vogue. He's slim but will surely develop further physically over the next few years. I saw him bowl equally well in the flesh last Saturday at Taunton and both three-wicket spells augured well for what he could do in the future on more helpful pitches and with more overs at his disposal.
When presenting Finn with the match award the normally gloomy Willis said something about him soon being in the England side. Premature and tempting fate, I thought, but equally, I wouldn't be surprised to see him there sooner rather than later. Finn himself, who only left school a couple of months ago, said that he'd be delaying going to university so that he can play full-time next season. I'll be surprised if he ever gets to university, unless it's after a long and successful career in the first-class game.
David Sales, the most polished batsman on show, is at a very different stage in his career. Although undoubtedly one of the most talented English batsmen of his generation and the youngest player from this country to make both first-class double and triple-centuries, he's never got very near to an England cap. It's hard to say why, other than some consistency issues earlier in his career, a dreadful knee injury which cost him a whole year's cricket and the fact that he's spent his entire career at Northampton, never an easy place from which to get noticed by selectors, especially these days.
Rising thirty now, Sales remains an uncomplicated and powerful striker of the ball with the type of assured temperament which I think would have stood him in good stead at international level. It's unlikely now that he'll ever get the opportunity and you can't help feeling that at the end of his career we'll be left to wonder how more than one player with a good deal less natural ability - Nasser Hussain, Paul Collingwood - knows what it is to make a Test match double-century when Sales doesn't even know what it is to wear an England cap.
22.7.06
Age Group Cricket
Being off work with my bad back (it's improving, thanks, but I now have sciatica instead) meant that I had the chance to watch the last two ODIs between England Under-19 and India Under-19 on Sky.
Both matches were played at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. On Thursday England were comprehensively beaten and yesterday they managed to make a much better fist of things although they still ended up losing by one wicket in the final over.
Overall, India, though the younger of the two sides, looked much the more mature and streetwise. England clearly had some decent talent but looked a bit over-coached and formulaic in their approach. The England batsmen seemed to spend most of their time (especially in the first game) hitting the ball straight to fielders. The Indian batsmen showed a far greater willingness to improvise, their bowlers bowled with more accuracy and penetration than England's, and their fielding was sharper, certainly on Thursday.
From the Indian side it will be a surprise if much more is not heard of Ishant Sharma, a very tall right-arm seamer from Delhi, and Parvez Aziz, an attacking opener from Assam.
The England side appeared to be conspicuously lacking in any really outstanding talent, but the Middlesex seamer Steven Finn, England's youngest player, shaped up well at the death yesterday. The Northants slow left-armer Graeme White bowled relatively economically in both games, and Steven Mullaney, from Lancashire, appeared to have something about him. And Varun Chopra, the captain, has been shaping up well for Essex this season, so all is not lost.
As David Lloyd rightly said in commentary, the standard of national junior sides can fluctuate markedly from season to season according to the talent available, and it'll be a major surprise if this side produces the number of senior internationals (Trescothick, Flintoff, McGrath, Solanki, Ben Hollioake, et al) that the team that Lloyd himself was involved with in the mid-nineties did.
However, with the advent of the academy, I've no doubt that the system which exists for developing players after they've passed through the age group sides is better than it was then, so many of the current players will be better placed to improve than their counterparts in past sides.
And, of course, many players will come through who aren't currently considered good enough to be selected for the under-nineteens.
Just ask the current England captain.
Both matches were played at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. On Thursday England were comprehensively beaten and yesterday they managed to make a much better fist of things although they still ended up losing by one wicket in the final over.
Overall, India, though the younger of the two sides, looked much the more mature and streetwise. England clearly had some decent talent but looked a bit over-coached and formulaic in their approach. The England batsmen seemed to spend most of their time (especially in the first game) hitting the ball straight to fielders. The Indian batsmen showed a far greater willingness to improvise, their bowlers bowled with more accuracy and penetration than England's, and their fielding was sharper, certainly on Thursday.
From the Indian side it will be a surprise if much more is not heard of Ishant Sharma, a very tall right-arm seamer from Delhi, and Parvez Aziz, an attacking opener from Assam.
The England side appeared to be conspicuously lacking in any really outstanding talent, but the Middlesex seamer Steven Finn, England's youngest player, shaped up well at the death yesterday. The Northants slow left-armer Graeme White bowled relatively economically in both games, and Steven Mullaney, from Lancashire, appeared to have something about him. And Varun Chopra, the captain, has been shaping up well for Essex this season, so all is not lost.
As David Lloyd rightly said in commentary, the standard of national junior sides can fluctuate markedly from season to season according to the talent available, and it'll be a major surprise if this side produces the number of senior internationals (Trescothick, Flintoff, McGrath, Solanki, Ben Hollioake, et al) that the team that Lloyd himself was involved with in the mid-nineties did.
However, with the advent of the academy, I've no doubt that the system which exists for developing players after they've passed through the age group sides is better than it was then, so many of the current players will be better placed to improve than their counterparts in past sides.
And, of course, many players will come through who aren't currently considered good enough to be selected for the under-nineteens.
Just ask the current England captain.
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