Eighteen months after his bowling was ruthlessly dismantled by Australia's batsmen, Steven Finn has been tipped to be one of the stars of the cricket World Cup by his teammates.
The giant paceman burst onto the scene in 2010 and was tipped to lead England's attack for years after taking 90 wickets in his first 23 Tests.
But he was axed from the Test side after being smashed out the attack by Brad Haddin and James Pattinson during the first Ashes Test at Nottingham in 2013.
England won the match by 14 runs but Australia almost pulled off a remarkable victory with Haddin and Pattinson putting on 65 for the 10th wicket after dispatching Finn to all parts of the ground.
That experience saw the 25-year-old's confidence disintegrate as he lost his run-up and ability to bowl above 140km/hr.
Last summer in Australia he hit rock bottom when he was overlooked for all five Tests despite England being hammered 5-0 and sent home early from the one-day series after being deemed unselectable by the coaching staff.
But Stuart Broad believes Finn showed signs of being back to his best in the recent tri-series where he took 11 wickets including 5-33 against India at Brisbane.
"He's obviously had a tough 18 months but he's shown brilliant signs in the tri-series of getting back to his best," Broad said.
"He's shown a lot of character to come back. Last year he was in the nets training and just trying to find something.
"Now he knows what he's looking for and he's bowling with pace again and he's a natural wicket taker especially on fast, bouncy wickets."
Finn will face the West Indies in a warm-up game at the SCG on Monday ahead of Saturday's World Cup clash against the hosts in Melbourne.
All-rounder Moeen Ali said a good performance will do wonders for Finn's self-belief.
"Finny's been bowling well and getting his pace back to where it was," Ali said.
"For us to go far in the World Cup we are going to need him at his best and I think the recent tri-series he showed some good signs.
"Hopefully he can take that into the first game against Australia and to the rest of the World Cup."
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