Aaron Finch ‘keen’ for new BBL season following hamstring injury

Aaron Finch is intent on showing he still has plenty to offer with the bat for the Melbourne Renegades.

Aaron Finch insists talk of his cricketing demise is premature and is adamant there remains plenty of “love” for an Australian team which has been deemed unpopular with supporters.

Australia’s 36-year-old T20 captain on Wednesday dismissed suggestions the upcoming BBL season would be his farewell campaign with the Melbourne Renegades.

“Hopefully people don’t write me off too quick,” said the big-hitting Finch, who suffered a hamstring injury last month during Australia’s failed T20 World Cup defence.

“I’m really keen to get back into it. Once you have a little break for a while, it gets the juices flowing again.”

The Renegades – whose squad has been boosted by the recruitment of players including Peter Handscomb, New Zealand star Martin Guptill, West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell and Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman – start their latest BBL campaign on Thursday week against the Brisbane Heat in Cairns.

Home away from home 🥰 pic.twitter.com/3mbewgzALb

— Melbourne Renegades (@RenegadesBBL) December 7, 2022

“We’ve added some real strength to our group, so for us it’s just about starting the tournament well,” Finch said.

“In T20 cricket, experience counts for a lot. Guys like Andre Russell and Martin Guptill have dominated world cricket for a long time, so they’re huge drawcards for our club.

“The Big Bash is a phenomenal tournament and we get some of the best players in the world.”

The BBL season is part of a busy summer which also includes Australia’s Test matches against the West Indies and South Africa, and domestic four-day and one-day competitions.

And with the summer of cricket having been preceded by Australia’s hosting of the T20 World Cup, there have been concerns of there being too much cricket, which has affected crowd numbers.

Low attendances, particularly during last week’s Test match in Perth, have also been cited as proof that Australia’s top cricketers are on the nose with the general public.

However, Finch says that issue has been “blown out of proportion”.

“With the World Cup being played so recently, the Big Bash, and (five) Tests throughout the summer, that’s a lot of cricket,” he said.

“There are time constraints with families and financial constraints as well, (but) people still love supporting cricket, they love supporting the Australian team and hopefully over the summer we see some bigger crowds.”

He said it was important that people did not think of the Australian team “in a different light”.

“A lot of it is just not reality,” he said.

Originally published as Aaron Finch ‘keen’ for new BBL season following hamstring injury