Finn to join Otago for a month

Steven Finn will play domestic cricket for Otago in New Zealand following England's one-day tour of India. He will be available for a month from early November to early December in a period that includes four Plunket Shield matches.

England don't have any international commitments in the final two months of the year before their tour to UAE to play Pakistan in January. The period overseas will allow Finn to push his case for selection having been on the fringes of the Test side during the home season where he only played once against Sri Lanka at Lord's.

"I felt it was crucial to get some four day cricket under my belt prior to hopefully getting selected for England's series against Pakistan," Finn said. "Therefore when the opportunity to play in New Zealand came up, I jumped at the chance to join the Volts. I look forward to arriving in Dunedin and linking up with [coach] Vaughn Johnson and his squad."

Finn has played 12 Tests and is the youngest Englishmen to fifty Test wickets overtaking the record set by Ian Botham. He has a best of 6 for 125 against Australia, in Brisbane, during last year's Ashes series but was left out two matches later and has since been overtaken in the pecking order by Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett.