Australia, Victoria compromise over Aaron Finch’s Shield batting position
The extraordinary standoff between Australia and Victoria over Aaron Finch has found a middle-ground, with the Test opener revealing where he’ll bat in his only red-ball hit-out before the India series.
The extraordinary standoff between Australia and Victoria over Aaron Finch has found a middle-ground, with the Test opener set to bat at No.3 in his only red-ball hit-out.
Victorian coach Andrew McDonald is refusing to open with Finch in next week’s Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland, despite Australian boss Justin Langer locking him in as his No.1 to face India in the first Test on December 6.
Adding to the farce, is the fact Finch is set to open alongside Marcus Harris for his country, but won’t be allowed to start building that combination for his State when the chance is there.
Finch has made seven single-figure scores in his past 10 limited overs innings and hasn’t had a chance to play any red-ball cricket since October.
There are fears over Finch’s record against the swinging new ball in first-class cricket, but the 32-year-old insists he isn’t worried about his preparation, to the point he has ruled out asking for a promotion to open from McDonald.
Instead it looks like McDonald will lock Finch in at No.3 for Victoria, a compromise which will guarantee him quality time in the middle and quite possibly some key overs against a new ball at a bouncy and swing-heavy Gabba.
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“It’s more about time in the middle regardless where you’re batting,” said Finch.
“Runs in any position count a lot more than if you miss out opening the batting. It’s just time in the middle.
“I think Victoria’s had a very settled opening combination in Marcus Harris and Travis Dean for three or four years now and they’ve played really well together. I think it’s important we respect that.
“I don’t think I’ll open in that game … I don’t plan that I’ll have that conversation.
“It’s up to the captain to make that call and whatever Peter (Handscomb) and Ron (McDonald) decide I’ll be comfortable, whether that’s three, four or five.”
Finch has looked uncharacteristically out of sorts in white ball cricket this summer, but says he doesn’t feel he is far away from striking form.
Also, he says missing out in a Twenty20 match where he’s trying to smack the ball is no guide to how he will approach a Test match at Adelaide Oval.
Finch says he’s possibly been practising too much and declared he will prepare for India in the Tests with a 90 minute batting hit-out before the series, before cutting down on his time in the nets.
“I’ve been batting more and more in the nets. I need to go the other way and go back to my old preparation which is have one big hit before a series and then ease into it and not do a hell of a lot once it gets underway,” he said.
“When you’re searching for a bit of form or you feel like there’s something just missing in your game, you tend to hit a lot more balls and search for an answer. The answer is pretty simple. Just hit the ball in the middle a few more times. And in this format you’re one shot away from everything just clicking back into gear.
“Something’s going wrong – I’m not getting enough runs. (But Tests) is a totally different format. When you’re looking to get after them so early in a T20 game the first risk you can often get out. But I’ve been working very hard on my technique and … trying to adjust a few things.
“It’s not ideal, don’t get me wrong, but at the end of the day it’s the opposite format.
“I’m sure once I get to Brisbane for the Shield game I’ll be able to get stuck into the red-ball stuff a bit more.”
LIKELY TEAMS FOR THIRD T20
Australia: D’Arcy Short, Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed
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