England captain Alastair Cook is expecting that Finn would return soon from his injury. Finn sustained a foot injury during the second practice game against Pakistan A in the recently concluded tour at UAE (United Arab Emirates).
Finn was omitted from the upcoming 1st Test match against South Africa, due to unsatisfactory progress.
Yet Cook hopes that Finn could join the squad in the South Africa tour later. He said before leaving England for the Africa tour, “I don’t think he is going to be ready to bowl in the first Test quite yet,”
“But Steven has made big strides over the last couple of weeks.”
“He is probably a couple of weeks ahead of where we thought he would be, so that is really encouraging for him.”
“I think he’ll join us sooner rather than later.”
Though England lost the three-Test series against Pakistan by 2-0, they were very close to win the first Test which was drawn due to bad light. Yet they made a great comeback in the limited-over with winning by 3-1 (4 matches) and 3-0 (3 matches) in the ODI and T-20 series respectively.
Cook confirmed with excitedly that Hales will be the opening partner with him in the upcoming Test series against South Africa.
Cook said about Hales, “From where Trevor (Bayliss, coach) spoke at the end of Pakistan, he will certainly be given the first opportunity at it.”
“You cannot guarantee anyone a first Test place when you are sitting here in a Heathrow hotel, but he has got a great opportunity.”
“We know, when he is in form, as you have seen in County Championship cricket, he can get on a run, and be very destructive.”
“I think over the last six months or so, in international cricket, he would have experienced a lot, from not scoring too many runs in the Australia one-day series to really bouncing back (against Pakistan).”
“It is going to be an exciting time for him.”