Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch says Tim David is likely to get an international opportunity

Australia need to evolve to repeat their T20 World Cup success this year and that could mean giving Tim David a go.

Aaron Finch says runs will ‘keep everyone off my back’. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch has given the strongest indication big-hitting batsman Tim David is in their World Cup plans after he produced another stunning display of hitting in England.

David, who has played 14 T20 internationals for Singapore but has never played first-class cricket in Australia, went on a rampage for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast, smashing four fours and four sixes in making 60 off just 25 balls at Old Trafford.

It comes after the 26-year-old showed his capabilities, albeit in limited opportunities, with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League where the Singapore-born West Australian was paid $1.5m for his services.

David wasn’t named in Australia’s T20 squad for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka, but on Monday Finch conceded it was becoming hard to look past him.

With a T20 World Cup defence at home this year, Finch said David had to come into calculations.

“Yeah, I think so. He’s been in fantastic form for a while now,” Finch said.

Tim David was in the mood with a 25-ball 60 in the Blast 💪#Blast22pic.twitter.com/ATJCGOnY9l

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 29, 2022

“The back end of the IPL was fantastic for him. He was at is brutal best. The ability to hit from ball one is a pretty rare skill and he’s done that plenty of times now.

“Him being so consistent, that’s something we will definitely look at over the next little while.”

Tim David is in the World Cup frame.

Finch was speaking after the confirmation of the Australian summer of cricket that includes six one-day internationals and five T20s before the World Cup.

There have been concerns over the skipper’s own form, and former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson even called on the 35-year-old to retire, despite making 55 in his most recent T20 international against Pakistan.

But while conceding he’s going through a “lean patch” – he scored just 86 runs in five innings after a late call-up to the IPL – Finch said there was enough cricket before the tournament for him to work out his kinks and “keep everyone off my back”.

“It’s been a reasonable lean patch, I’ve been through that plenty of times in my career,” Finch said.

“At times you go through a stage when you get a heap of runs in a hurry then you go through a lean patch. That’s something to look forward to, it’s such a busy schedule of cricket it’s time to build and get back into the groove of one-day cricket especially.

“It would be really nice to get some big runs and keep everyone off my back for a little while.”