Steven Finn admirably filled Jimmy Anderson's boots in the first Test at Durban. For me, he was the pick of England's fast bowlers. Interestingly, this Test featured two of the games best strike-rate bowlers in Test history in Steyn and Finn.
To date, 39 seam bowlers have taken 100 Test wickets prior to their 27th birthday. Of these bowlers, Steven Finn's strike rate of 46.3 is the third best of all time - only Dale Steyn (39.2) and Waqar Younis (40.4) have a lower strike rate.
Finn's numbers (27 matches, 108 wickets, 27.84 ave, 46.3 SR) through age 26 are remarkably identical to those of Mikey Holding (25 matches, 101 wickets, 25.76 Ave, 56.4 SR) and Glenn McGrath (25 matches, 106 wickets, 24.96 ave, 56.2 SR) - pretty good company to keep.
The two knocks on Finn are that he leaks run - this is true, but you do need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match - and he hasn't taken the same volume of wickets when compared to some of the other names on this list.
In his career so far, despite such a historically low strike rate, Finn has averaged "only" 4 wickets per Test. For reference, the top 10 elite bowlers to haven taken 100 wickets before turning 27 averaged between 4.24 and 5.14 wickets per Test. Steyn averaged an incredible 5.14 wickets per Test. Waqar Younis is second with 5.03, then comes Roberts 4.88, Lille 4.76, Wes Hall 4.71, Botham 4.56, Marshall 4.5, McKenzie 4.43, McDermott 4.25 and McGrath 4.24. Finn's average of 4 wickets per Test ranks him 15th, behind Peter and Shaun Pollock, Geoff Lawson and Michael Holding.
In Finn's defense, he has been England's third seamer, bowling behind Broad and Anderson, thusly limiting the opportunity to grab more wickets. Marshall faced similar limitations due to bowling in the same teams as Roberts, Holding, Garner et al.
Due to his height, Finn gets that extra bounce that batsman don't expect and causes them trouble. On commentary during the first Test against South Africa, Mikey Holding stated on multiple occasions that Steven Finn would be the first bowler on his England team sheet. With Anderson perhaps coming to the end of his Test career in the near future - despite his wishes to carry on for another five years - Finn will have a pivotal role to play in the England team for years to come.
