Steven Finn has recovered from the bone stress fracture that saw him sidelined from England’s series against Pakistan in October and November to return to action against South Africa.
Advertisement
Finn returned figures of 1-30 in Sunday’s win in Dubai and has clearly done enough to prove his fitness to selector Mick Newell, who has been monitoring the Lions in their five-game series which finishes on Wednesday. “Obviously comparing yourself to someone like AB is going to be a fantastic challenge and if you do come out being the better of the wicketkeeper-batsmen then I will have had a very good tour”.
As well as likely starters Broad and Anderson, England also have left-armer Mark Footitt and all-rounders Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes competing for places in their attack.
Now, though, Finn has recovered and will join up with his senior teammates in Potchefstroom ahead of tomorrow’s first tour match against a South Africa Invitational XI.
Bairstow, whom England’s coach Trevor Bayliss confirmed at the weekend would start the Boxing Day Test at Durban, inherited the gloves for the final Test of England’s tour of the UAE, at Sharjah last month, after Jos Buttler had mustered 430 runs at 23.88 in 12 previous Tests in 2015.
“Having the confidence of the captain and coach going into the warm-up games and hopefully the first Test is something you can take on, be relaxed and enjoy yourself”, he said. Every time you pull on a shirt for England it’s a massive game and hopefully it’s a successful series for myself and, first and foremost, the team.
“If, as a batsman, you don’t get runs on the board regardless of what the conditions are like it’s not a nice feeling”, Amla said at the media launch of the Sunfoil Series, South Africa’s domestic four-day competition.
Advertisement
The 26-year-old Yorkshireman has played as a specialist batsman in 17 of his 20 Tests, but is not concerned about pulling double duty in the long term.
