This was published 2 years ago
Push for captain Warner as Finch retires from one-day cricket
By Malcolm Conn
Pressure is growing on the Cricket Australia board to overturn David Warner’s captaincy ban following the retirement of white-ball captain Aaron Finch from the 50-over game.
Finch will lead the national team to the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next month and then decide his international future in the shortest form of the game after playing with the Renegades in the Big Bash over summer.
The third and final one-day match in a series Australia have already won against New Zealand, to be played in Cairns on Sunday, will be Finch’s last in the 50-over format.
Warner’s captaincy ban was already on the agenda for next month’s Cricket Australia board meeting following a Cricket NSW request after CA enticed the dynamic opener to resume in the Big Bash for Sydney Thunder. Warner received an unprecedented deal for a current Australian player of at least $70,000 a game for five matches in January.
While making it clear appointing a new captain was not his decision, Finch supported several possible captaincy replacements during his retirement announcement in Cairns on Saturday, including Warner.
“CA are revisiting I think what that looks like,” Finch said of Warner’s leadership ban. “He’s someone I’ve played under a few times when he’s had the opportunity to captain, and he’s been fantastic.
There is an internal push in Australian cricket to make David Warner Australia’s next one-day captain. Credit: Getty
“He’s been an unbelievable tactical captain who at the time the guys loved playing under, but I’m not 100 percent sure of CA’s position.
“Would I like to see it [the captaincy ban] overturned? Absolutely, because what he can offer, not just now as a player in that leadership space, but going forward for him to be able to coach and help the next generation of players come through is going to be so important for Australian cricket.
“He’s someone I think, you do your time and he’s well and truly done that I think.”
Test captain Pat Cummins has ruled himself out of white-ball leadership roles because of his workload as the world’s leading fast bowler but has spoken out publicly in support of overturning Warner’s leadership ban.
Test captain Pat Cummins supports overturning David Warner’s captaincy ban.Credit: Getty Images
“Fundamentally, banning someone for life I disagree with,” Cummins said during Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in June.
“People are allowed to learn and improve and grow. So yeah, fundamentally I disagree with that concept.
“He’s a fantastic leader around our squad here. If he has a formal role, he’d be fantastic with that as well. So if that ever came up, he’d be great.”
Cummins then reinforced his view as a special guest at the Chappell Foundation dinner in August.
“I don’t see why not. He’s a brilliant leader. I hope so,” Cummins said on stage at an event that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for youth homelessness.
On Saturday, several sources pointed to these comments from Cummins as a more widely held view in Australian cricket.
Warner has a lifetime captaincy and coaching ban from the CA board for his perceived part in the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal while then captain Smith received a two-year leadership ban. Both were banned from international and domestic cricket for a year but were allowed to play club cricket.
The current CA board has only one member who was on the board when the ban was imposed.
Aaron Finch lasted just two balls in the second one-dayer against New Zealand.Credit: Getty
The safe option for the board would be Smith, who was appointed Test vice-captain last year and led the team in the Adelaide Test when Cummins was ruled out with Covid protocols.
Finch took Australia to a first Twenty20 World Cup title in the UAE less than a year ago and, unlike his one-day form, his Twenty20 performances have been solid.
Following a second-ball duck last Thursday, Finch has six single-figure scores in his past seven one-day innings for a total of just 26 runs and just one half-century from 13 innings this year, including five ducks.
Finch’s departure from the 50-over format gives the selectors a year to bed down the one-day team ahead of the World Cup in India, where Warner has had enormous success in the IPL as a player and captain.
“It is time now to give a new leader the best possible opportunity to prepare for and win the next World Cup,” Finch said.
He scored 5401 one-day runs with 17 hundreds, behind just Ricky Ponting (29), David Warner (18) and Mark Waugh (18) and said winning the 2015 World Cup in Australia was his career highlight.
Finch spoke to Australian coach Andrew McDonald between the just-completed one-day series against Zimbabwe in Townsville and the current New Zealand series in Cairns.
“He wanted me to keep taking a bit of time and make sure that I was making the right decision,” said Finch. “I decided the other day that my next game would be my last [in one-day cricket].”
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