From the Ashes: Steven Finn’s rise, fall and rise again

Finn also cleaned up Australia captain Michael Clarke for figures of 2-38. When he batted, some of the Australians asked him if he was “going to go crying home”, but his vengeance was near.

He ripped through the Aussie middle order for 6-79 in the second innings, putting England on the way to an eight-wicket win and 2-1 series lead.

“You have the crowd behind you,” says Finn. “The noise carries you to the crease. It’s one of the best feelings in sport, one of those things you chase as a player. You only get it a few times in your career. I remember that vividly.

“I went back to my room with the match ball and the man of the match medal. I remember sitting there and thinking ‘wow, what a turnaround that has been’ and feeling proud of myself for coming through that.”

In the next Test at Trent Bridge, Finn watched from mid-off as Stuart Broad’s legendary 8-15 sealed the urn.

“That one felt like a real Ashes win,” he says. “It was the only one when I was on the pitch the moment we took the last wicket. Being out there, celebrating, walking off with the team and spotting my family in the crowd is my greatest memory.

“It’s the most emotional I’ve ever seen my dad. It almost set me off on the spot.”

Finn was an England regular for the next year, but injuries hampered him in the run-up to the 2017-18 Ashes in Australia. He had gone almost 12 months without playing a Test when he was added to the England squad as a replacement for Ben Stokes, who was unavailable after the incident outside a Bristol nightclub.

However, rather than having the chance to make amends for what happened on his previous Ashes tour down under, Finn suffered another twist of fate.

“I was batting, I bent over to pick up a ball from the side of the net and ended up in a heap on the ground,” says Finn. “The second you do an injury like that, you know it’s bad news.

“I had to have surgery on my knee and knee injuries have been annoying me since then.”

Finn was never involved in another England squad.

“I’m very fortunate to have stood there on the podium and lifted the Ashes three times, however big or small part I played in the series,” he says.

“I’ve lifted that urn and celebrated with my team-mates. There are a lot of players who haven’t done that once, let alone three times. It’s something I’m proud of.

“The bad times, you hope you have managed to learn enough from those to either help people when they are going through something similar, and help yourself with whatever you go on to do next in your life.

“They weren’t pleasant at the time, but I’m grateful to have experienced those lows because it makes me very grateful for the good times I’ve had.”