Finn downplays significance of Pietersen's absence from Lord's Test

London, Aug 17: Pacer Steve Finn has said he thought England bowled beautifully to put themselves in a good position against South Africa at Lord’s.

Taking the field without Pietersen for the first time in a Test since the 2009 Ashes series after Graeme Smith had spared Andrew Strauss from a tricky decision in his 100th Test by winning the toss and choosing to bat, they seized the initiative by reducing the tourists to 54 for four in the morning session.

South Africa recovered to 262 for seven by the close but even JP Duminy, their top-scorer with 61, conceded that left England “more on top than we are.”

Finn, who took three of those first four wickets to justify his retention in the team ahead of Tim Bresnan, tried to downplay the significance of Pietersen’s absence, but stressed the importance of England''s collective effort in the field, The Guardian reports.

“I thought we were great as a team – all 11 people out there were focused on playing for England,” Finn said.

“What''s happened hasn''t affected the way we''ve approached this game. After Monday everything was swept under the carpet. We''ve got through tough times together, we''ve done that well in the past and today we showed that again. Bowling first always puts a bit of pressure on you to take early wickets.

“I thought we bowled beautifully in the first session and made use of the conditions. As the day went on the sun came out and the ball got softer, so conditions got better to bat in. But we''re very happy with where we are,” he said.

Of his own performance, Finn said: “I''m delighted to get three quite important wickets. At that stage we needed wickets to really assert ourselves on the South Africans in this game. Maybe I chased wickets a bit, but I''ve come into the team as not an enforcer exactly, but a wicket-taker.”

Jimmy Anderson also bowled beautifully to take three for 58 from 23 overs, overtaking Bob Willis to become England''s third most successful bowler in Test matches at Lord''s, now with 49 and behind only Ian Botham and Fred Trueman.