Finn could compete for Boxing Day berth

Steven Finn could be handed a chance to play his way straight back into England's Test team for next week's Boxing Day Test at Durban when Sunday's final warm-up game against South Africa A gets underway in Pietermaritzburg.

However, the England management's eagerness to give him an opportunity to prove his match fitness may have to be weighed against the need to give their original squad bowlers enough overs going into the first Test, following the untimely thunderstorm that wiped out the final innings of their first practice match in Potchefstroom.

England are expected to inquire about rescinding the second fixture's first-class status and making it another 13-a-side affair. However, South Africa A have provided a strong opposition containing several international players, including Quinton de Kock and Dane Vilas, and there may be justifiable reluctance to agree to such a move.

Finn, who was forced to pull out of England's Test series in the UAE in October after suffering a bone-stress injury in his left foot, was drafted into the squad as a late addition last week after impressing for England Lions in two Twenty20 comeback appearances against Pakistan A in Dubai.

The initial suggestion had been that Finn would not come into consideration for a place until the second Test at the earliest, which gets underway at Cape Town on January 2.

However, the pace and hostility that he displayed in his two four-over outings in the UAE have been on display in the nets at Potchefstroom, where a final-day thunderstorm curtailed the opportunities for his two main rivals for a Test berth, Chris Woakes and Mark Footitt, to advance their claims during the opening warm-up match.

Ottis Gibson, England's bowling coach, said of Finn: "The understanding is that once he has made it here he is added to the squad and therefore if he proves in the next couple of days that he is ready, my understanding is that everybody is available for selection.

"He has been excellent. He has obviously done a lot of work in the UAE and the guys over there who looked after him did a great job getting him up to speed.

"He hasn't played a game but given the facilities here he has done a lot of good stuff in the nets and put himself right in the frame."

With James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes - who has himself recovered from injury in the Pakistan series - all certain selections for Durban, their match readiness may have to be the main focus in the three-day fixture at City Oval. Anderson and Broad bowled 11 overs between them in the first match.

However, Gibson said that Anderson in particular would not need much in the way of warming-up ahead of the first Test. "The stage he is at in his career you treat him slightly different to someone who's just coming in," he said. "He's a very experienced senior pro and he knows exactly what he needs to get himself ready for a Test match nowadays."

The early front-runner for the third seamer's berth was Footitt, the Surrey left-arm seamer who has forced his way into the squad at the age of 30 after collecting 158 Championship wickets in the space of two seasons for his former club, Derbyshire.

His initial efforts in the opening tour match against a South Africa Invitational XI were a touch erratic, however, and Gibson suggested that his best chance of success would come if he finds a way to relax and believe in his ability.

"There were obviously nerves and everything with it being his first bowl for England but he got a wicket and then settled down," Gibson told reporters.

"It's his bowling for Derby over the last couple of years that has got him here and my message to him is to do exactly what he's been doing for them. There's no point him trying to be someone else when he gets here.

"He's impressed the selectors - that's why he got picked - so the best thing he can do now is relax in this environment because that's the way for him to produce his best."

Footitt's 90mph pace and left-arm line would doubtless prove an asset in the Kingsmead Test, a venue that has traditionally favoured fast bowling. Like Finn, his full-throttle approach would provide a strong and contrasting back-up to the established new-ball pairing of Anderson and Broad, and would provide a hostile counterpoint to South Africa's renowned pace attack, which looks set to be led once again by Dale Steyn, after he came through a fitness test on the groin injury that he sustained during the Test series in India.

"The way he has taken wickets over the last couple of years should give him the confidence to believe he can do it here," Gibson added of Footitt. "It's a step up but the key thing for him is to find the balance of managing his nerves and being as relaxed as he can to do what he has been doing for the last two seasons.

"He's got good pace, he can swing it and he's a wicket-taker. He is going to be an asset."