'Rusty' Strauss eyes improvement
Captain Andrew Strauss hailed the performance of man of the match Steven Finn following his nine-wicket haul for England against Bangladesh at Lord's.
England wrapped up an eight-wicket victory on Monday in the first of a two-Test series against the tourists.
"Steven Finn has been bowling like that all season, he got more out of the wicket than our other bowlers and has a big future," Strauss told BBC Sport.
"We are very excited but we don't want to big him up too much at this stage."
Finn, making his first Test appearance at Lord's, took 4-100 in the first innings as England reduced Bangladesh to 282 in reply to England's 505.
And the Middlesex bowler bettered those figures with 5-87 as Bangladesh were forced to follow on, with the Tigers reaching 382.
Strauss was quick to praise the 21-year-old but warned the young bowler to remain grounded following his fine performance.
"If he stays on his feet he can go far," said Strauss.
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"He is a nice man, very confident, good to have in the dressing room and has a good cricketing brain, which is useful. He bowled very well and hit the deck very hard."
Strauss was pleased that England managed to get the series off to a winning start, although admitted that improvements would have to be made ahead of the second Test at Old Trafford, which starts on Friday.
England's captain celebrated his return to the side with two innings of 83 and 82 having missed the winter tour of Bangladesh.
"We had to work very hard for that victory, our bowling got better as the game went on and ultimately it was about graft but we weren't as good as we should have been in this game," conceded Strauss.
"It was nice to get over the line, it was a hard Test match, if I'm honest. It was nice to come out and win but it wasn't the best Test match I've played in from our point of view.
"We talked about finding ways to take wickets when the pitch wasn't doing much and at times we did that well and at times we didn't. Ultimately, we've won the Test match but we need to make sure we carry on going forward."
Finn delighted with nine wickets
For Finn, the match helped him realise a boyhood dream - playing Test cricket at his home ground of Lord's.
"It was great to be playing in a Test match at Lord's, it's something I've always dreamed off since I was young and it's nice to have finally done it," Finn told Test Match Special.
"I'm always looking up at the honours board at Middlesex and it's nice to finally be on there [after taking five wickets].
"I've bowled a lot of cricket here recently and I seem to have found some rhythm."
But despite his man-of-the-match performance, Finn is determined not to get carried away, knowing that he was only filling in for the rested Stuart Broad.
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I'm a seamer down the pecking order and I need to put in consistent performances
Steven Finn
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"I haven't done myself any harm [in terms of the pecking order] but I'm not kidding myself, I'm in the team because Stuart Broad is being rested. I'm just one of a number of bowlers," stated Finn.
"I'm a seamer down the pecking order and I need to put in consistent performances and see where that takes me."
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was disappointed his side had not been able to bat longer on Monday morning, adding only 54 runs after they started the day with five second-innings wickets still in hand.
"We lost too may wickets in the morning session," said Shakib. "If we had lost one or two wickets we could have batted another hour or two after lunch and got a draw.
"Our top order batted really well, there were plenty of short balls but they stuck to their job. Our bowlers need to get the ball in the right areas and put the batsman under pressure. They need to work hard and practice."
Shakib also paid tribute to opener Tamim Iqbal, who thrilled the crowd with his aggressive stroke play as he made 103 from only 100 balls in the second innings.
"Tamim was exceptional throughout the game," added the skipper. "He played very well."
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