The leader, supporting actor and X-factor – Finn on England's attack

The leader, supporting actor and X-factor – Finn on England's attackPublished7 minutes agoCommentsThe fallout from England's Ashes loss means the home summer arrives with more intrigue and questions than any other in recent memory.The series against New Zealand and Pakistan – starting with the first Test against the Black Caps at Lord's on Thursday – carry more significance than they might if results had gone well.In 2014, I was part of the side that returned home with our tails between our legs after losing 5-0 to Mitchell Johnson and co. It was the end of the road for that team as we knew it – it was clear there was going to be a seismic shift.Andy Flower stood down as head coach and Kevin Pietersen never played for England again. Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar all never wore the whites for England beyond that point.This time there has not been a high-profile sacking, or wholesale changes of players. It's been more a shuffling of the pack and a slap on the wrist.Opener Zak Crawley is the most high-profile casualty. He definitely has the talent to play international cricket again, but I wonder whether he would benefit from dropping into the middle order to make the most of the obvious strengths in his ability.While there has been a simple switch in the batting order – Crawley replaced by Emilio Gay – there are as many as eight frontline bowling options in the 15-man squad, including captain Ben Stokes.It is a curiously large squad for the first Test of the summer, especially after England have had so much time to make their plans – almost five months since the Ashes ended.As a player, I always preferred limiting the amount of deliberation inside my head in the build-up to a Test.Quite often, I'd be part of a 12-man squad and knew I was competing with one person – usually Tremlett, Bresnan or Graham Onions – for the final bowling spot in the XI. It meant we all knew our chances of playing in the build-up to a Test.I'm not...