Finch given every chance to finish on a high as selectors eye future

Adelaide: Aaron Finch will be given every chance to put the capstone on his international career by guiding Australia to the Twenty20 World Cup finals, as selectors cast an eye over future leaders of both titled and untitled varieties.

While David Warner’s eligibility for captaincy hinges on the outcome of a review of the Cricket Australia code of conduct, selection chair George Bailey, head coach Andrew McDonald and Tony Dodemaide have been discussing other possible candidates following Finch’s ODI retirement in September.

Alongside Tim David, Finch did a series of run-throughs and stretches of his strained hamstring on Wednesday morning, watched by team fitness staff and Bailey. Australia must beat Afghanistan by a wide margin on Friday and hope other results fall favourably to reach the semis.

Aaron Finch is nursing an injury.Credit: AP

Though Pat Cummins has already been installed as 50-over captain with an eye on next year’s World Cup in India, the T20 side will likely need new leadership for the cycle culminating in the 2024 tournament to be held in the West Indies and the United States.

Bailey pointed out that the process of leadership evolution for the men’s side was a “constant” conversation across formats, even if Finch had not yet declared this tournament to be his final international assignment. After the World Cup, Australia don’t have another T20 series until August 2023 in South Africa.

“Your leadership profile of teams is always changing,” Bailey said. “I think the culture of your team is always changing. So I think you check in on that fairly regularly anyway. Our players understand that, titled or not, leadership’s really important through the group.

“The captain of any Australian side is not the be-all and end-all in terms of that. So while it’s important to be clear on the captain, I think we’ve got some strong depth in that area.”

One of the qualities that Finch has brought to the ODI and T20 captaincy roles is a high degree of understanding and acceptance around the way that the white ball formats are often subservient to Test cricket in terms of player availability outside World Cups.

“One of the things you often do as a white ball captain is you find your team’s compromised,” Bailey said. “With the prioritisation of Test cricket there’s plenty of times where we’ve had to ring Finchy and tell him certain players wouldn’t be on tours or playing certain games, and the fact he’s always embraced that has worked really well with building a team towards major tournaments.

“I think the fact he’s combined leading with playing and performing, he’s done that terrifically as well. I think it’s hard to talk about someone’s contribution until they’ve actually made a decision to finish up, then it comes to light. But he’s going well, and batted beautifully the other night.”

As Finch and David stretched their legs in the foreground, the young all-rounder Cameron Green had centre wicket practice at Karen Rolton Oval, hitting a series of massive sixes in the background.

After finishing his test, Finch spoke to Green, who would replace him as opener if the captain was ruled out. Wicketkeeper Matt Wade, who did not train on Wednesday, would substitute as leader.

Bailey said that it was a good sign that Finch had been able to front up for some light running the day after travelling from Brisbane to Adelaide, but agreed there were plenty of complexities to Australia’s team selection for Friday.

“It’s [fitness] combined with the situation we find ourselves in with what we might need to do in the game,” Bailey said. “At the fundamental level, Afghanistan are a very strong side and you need 11 fit and firing players to defeat them.”

Reflecting on how the Australians found themselves relying on other teams if they are to progress to the semi-finals of the event they won in the UAE a year ago, Bailey said that the two power plays in the opening game against New Zealand at the SCG had been telling.

“I think when you break it down, you look at our power play and their power play,” Bailey said. “That’s 12 overs that were probably the difference.

“Going back to that New Zealand game, power plays are so important, that’s a good starting point, so making sure you start well with the bat or take some wickets with the ball, there’s a lot that still remains out of your control. We’ve got a team where if they need to put the foot down and do something special, they’ve got that in them.”