Aaron Finch has taken an upbeat stance to his downbeat form as he attempts to right his career in a one-day series against a quality New Zealand side in the challenging tropical conditions of Cairns.
“Obviously, the performances personally haven’t been there to the output of runs, but I still feel like I’m pretty good,” Finch said after an unusually long net session at Cazaly Stadium on Monday.
Opposing skippers Aaron Finch of Australia and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson with the rarely sighted Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. Credit:Getty Images
Finch had scores of 15, 1 and 5 in the just-completed ODI series against Zimbabwe in Townsville, when 9.40am starts made batting channelling on an early-season seaming wicket.
“The toss become really important in those Townsville games,” Finch said. “It felt like whoever won the toss had a great chance of winning the game.”
And so it proved, with Australia winning the first two tosses to bowl first and wrap up the series before the hosts were sent in for the third and Zimbabwe claimed their first victory on Australian soil.
That will be very different in Cairns, with day/night matches allowing plenty of drying before a 2.20pm start and early swing likely under lights for the team batting second.
Finch’s current struggles go way beyond the current North Queensland sojourn. In 11 one-day innings this year he has managed just one half-century and six single-figure scores, including four ducks.
Despite his recent run of outs, he still averages almost 40 from 143 ODIs with 17 centuries and his Twenty20 form for both Australia and the Renegades over the past season has been solid.
Aaron Finch had an unusually long net session in Cairns on Monday.Credit:Getty Images
This has given coach Andrew McDonald and chairman of selectors George Bailey the confidence to back Finch in for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia during October and November, having led Australia to their first T20 World Cup triumph in the UAE last October.
But the 50-over World Cup in India a year from now is another story entirely.
Finch claimed there was no set way of planning an innings regardless of form.
“It’s just a game-to-game thing,” he said. “I mean, there are days when you will get a few freebies early on, so you get away and your innings naturally starts like that,” said Finch, highlighting the brilliant innings David Warner played in Townsville last Saturday when he scored 94 from 96 balls in a team total of 141.
“There’s other days when you have to grind out the first 10, 15, 20 balls at times. Davey played a great innings the other day, but he battled really hard for his first 25 balls.”
David Warner smashes his way to 94 from 96 balls in the final one-day match against ZimbabweCredit:Getty
The world’s leading one-day bowler, 33-year-old Trent Boult, is in New Zealand’s 15-man squad despite negotiating a casual contract with New Zealand which allows him the freedom to play in global T20 tournaments, including the Big Bash.
All-rounder Colin de Grandhomme, 36, has also been drafted into the Big Bash and subsequently terminated his central contract with NZC, with the possibility that more may follow in an ageing squad.
“It’s a tricky one because it [cricket] is changing. So much seems to have happened so quickly,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said before training on Monday.
“It does seem to be a movement in the landscape of the game. Every case is unique and every case has got their individual needs at different stages of their lives.”
