Finn can get England’s Ashes defence back on track

After being blown away by Mitchell Johnson’s pace at the Gabba England must turn to their own speedster in Steven Finn to get their Ashes campaign back on track.

Much of the focus has been on the shortcomings of England’s batsmen against the short ball after Australia’s dominant 381-run win in Brisbane, but Stuart Broad apart, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann all failed to make an impact with the ball.

Anderson and, in particular, Tremlett looked pedestrian on what was a lightning quick pitch in comparison to Australia’s man of the match Johnson.

And now, with England already 1-0 down in the series and heading to Adelaide needing a lift, Alastair Cook and Andy Flower must turn to Finn to fight fire with fire with Australia.

The Middlesex paceman is England’s fastest bowler and he has already proved his worth on Australian pitches.

The Watford-born star picked up a five-wicket haul in England’s final warm-up match against the Invitational XI before the Gabba mauling and during the 2010/11 Ashes contest he took 14 wickets in the first three matches of the series win.

Despite his success in Aussie conditions, England dropped him for the final two matches of the winning campaign because of his capacity to leak runs.

The 24-year-old, who was left out of the first Test in favour of the more consistent Tremlett, has seen his England career stall due to his high economy rate and the containing style of cricket the team plays, but now they must cut loose if they are to get back into the series at the Adelaide Oval.

Finn, who took a career-best figures of 6-125 at the Gabba in 2010, is 7/2 with Ladbrokes to hit back for England in South Australia and be his side’s leading wicket-taker in the first innings.

If the seamer takes his opportunity and performs for Cook’s side, the 12/1 on him being England’s top series wicket-taker could be well worth a look.

Mitchell Johnson leads the way in the overall series wicket-taker market at 13/8 but a good showing from Finn in Adelaide would see his 33/1 odds tumble.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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