STEVEN Finn's toughest task next season might be getting a game for Middlesex - or that's what he thinks anyway.
When it comes to fast bowlers on the England radar the Panthers pace-man's star is rising faster than most at the moment.
Finn jets off to Dubai later this week with the England Lions, and following an invite from the MCC, he'll be back in the UAE at the end of March for an historic season curtain-raiser with County Champions Durham - a game to be played under lights and with an experimental pink ball.
All this comes on top of spending six weeks with the England performance squad in South Africa before Christmas.
Yet, with Middlesex having recruited Ian O'Brien and a deal for Makaya Ntini still in the offing, Finn thinks he'll have a job nailing down a spot at Lord's never mind unseating the likes of Ryan Sidebottom and Graham Onions from England ranks.
Not that he's complaining - it's all part of the Angus Fraser Middlesex revolution and Finn's view is bring it on.
He said: "You can't think of guys like Ian O'Brien as a threat.
"His arrival spurs me on to think having taken 50 plus wickets in the County Championship last year I'm not guaranteed a place in the starting 11 - but I don't think anyone can expect that.
"It's great to have a player like Ian with recent international experience on board. I don't know what is going on with Ntini but he's another world class player and if he comes it can only be good for Middlesex.
"It's important Gus Fraser shapes the club in the direction he wants it to go because he's the most positive thing to happen to Middlesex cricket in a long time.
"Perhaps it's the growing sense of competition in the Middlesex fast bowling battery which encouraged Finn to accept the MCC's invite to take part in a bit of cricketing history and clock up still more winter air miles.
Or maybe its Abu Dhabi's a lot warmer place for pre-season hard yakka. Either way, he jumped at the chance.
He added: "It's exciting, Gus said we were under no obligation to play, but straight away I said yes. To be playing under floodlights with a pink ball on an historic occasion is a great privilege.
"The conditions will be very different to here. We don't know if the pink ball will swing and I learnt out on tour with Middlesex last year the pitches are hard work for bowlers.
"But It's just lovely to be playing cricket in different climates - Dubai and Abu Dhabi certainly beats Finchley in March."
