Finn taking nothing for granted

Steven Finn will already be pencilled in by many for next winter's Ashes, after his nine-wicket haul in England's Lord's victory over Bangladesh.

Steven Finn will already be pencilled in by many for next winter's Ashes, after his nine-wicket haul in England's Lord's victory over Bangladesh.

The 6ft 7in seamer looks a natural for Australia's bouncier pitches, where traditional English seam and swing is less effective.

But Finn will be taking no such thing for granted for some time yet, reasoning he needs to take plenty more wickets this summer - starting against Bangladesh again in this week's second and final npower Test at Old Trafford.

Asked whether he may take a punt on cramped bookies' odds of 1/6 that he will be on the plane down under in October, he pointed out: "No, I'm not allowed.

"There is a lot of hard work (ahead) for me, because there are guys to come back in who are ahead of me in the pecking order.

"I'm not going to kid myself; I've had fun in this Test match and I'm loving playing for my country at the moment.

"But fundamentally, it's up to me to make it difficult for the selectors to drop me - whether I do that playing for England or through consistent performances for Middlesex throughout the season.

"If I keep taking wickets, my name will be there or there abouts - but it'll be a lot of hard work."

Finn's match figures of nine for 187 made up for a largely off-colour performance from the remainder of a four-man England attack in their first Test of the summer.

Jonathan Trott's double-hundred and two half-centuries from returning captain Andrew Strauss also helped to do the trick - albeit in a match which was taken almost into the final session yesterday - to ensure England go to Manchester, against opponents who have lost all but nine of their 67 Tests, one up with one to play.

Twenty-one-year-old Finn has yet to sample the likely pacy conditions at Old Trafford - but is unsurprisingly looking forward to doing so.

"Yeah, of course Old Trafford appeals to me - after playing in Bangladesh and a relatively slow wicket out here," he confirmed.

Strauss could hardly disagree that Finn's style may be just what is required in Australia.

He said: "If you look at bowlers who take wickets in Australia, those kind of heavy hit-the-deck bowlers tend to do well - [Australia great] Glenn McGrath had a reasonable career there.

"But Finny's right - there is a lot of water under the bridge before then.

"I hope we'll have a full complement of bowlers to pick from - with the likes of Stuart Broad and Graham Onions to come back.

"Everyone will be jostling for position, which is a healthy thing for the side."

Strauss senses Bangladesh are inching ever closer to being truly competitive against the top Test nations - and his opposite number Shakib Al Hasan, predictably, agrees.

"We are not depending on one person," he said.

"[Second-innings centurion] Tamim (Iqbal) played a fantastic game at Lord's.

"But it was not only him - Junaid (Siddique) and Imrul (Kayes) faced a lot of short balls but showed their character."

Bangladesh began the final day with an almost even chance of closing out a draw, only five down and 105 runs ahead - but were unable to hang on.

"We had a good chance to draw if we could bat more than 50 overs - giving us 200 and them 40 overs to chase.

"It is always frustrating when you lose. We can take many positive and negative things from this - and we need to learn from them and improve."