ICC Awards 2010 were held in Bengaluru, India on 6th October '10. I didn't really enjoy the ceremony much though. The positives were Finny getting the emerging player of the year award, Swanny, Jimmy being named in the ICC World Test XI and Broady, Colly being named in the ICC World ODI XI.

Finn emerged on the scene when Jimmy Anderson was rested for the tour of Bangladesh. He played in both the Tests as Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Onions struggled with fitness. Bangladesh isn't a great place for a fast bowler to make his debut. He wasn't spectacular but showed pace and bounce. The moment I first looked at him, he was sitting in the balcony, looked good and I loved his attitude and poise. Finn rocked the Bangladesh batting line-up in the following summer, bagging 9 wickets in his home debut Test at Lord's and 5 in the 2nd innings at Old Trafford. However, he played down talks of comparisons with Glenn Mcgrath and Curtley Ambrose. He also commented that he is not targeting the Ashes. He said:

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 it'll be a lot of hard work for me, because there are guys to come back in who are ahead of me in the pecking order.

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 thereabouts, but it'll be a lot of hard work.

That's quite modest I shall say. After taking the wickets at Lord's, he blamed himself for going for too many fours and said that he'd like to change that. He was very impressive against Pakistan too, taking key wickets. But I reckon he was under used by Strauss. Finn bowled 79 overs in the series as opposed to Anderson - 140.3, Broad - 113.5. Finn's career bowling strike rate is an amazing 36.9. In the history of the game, the best career strike rate is 34.1, followed by 37.7. He is a wicket-taker and wicket-takers are the guys who win you Tests. And that is why he is the key to the Ashes.

PS, this post was originally going to be about ICC awards but I just couldn't resist the temptation of writing and researching about Finn. I've never agreed with ICC Rankings and awards and this time it was no different. Absurdly, Eoin Morgan wasn't shortlisted for Emerging Player Of The Year Award so Finn easily beat Umar Akmal, Angelo Mathews and Tim Paine.

Related Post: Steven Finn Wallpaper!
 
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