As Australia have struggled in this ODI series against England, opening batsman Aaron Finch has become a curious lightning rod for criticism.
A huge number of Australian fans, including many Roarers, have disparaged Finch despite his prolific run-scoring, arguing he is scoring too slowly and hindering his team in the process. It’s a patently ridiculous claim. As much can be discerned by looking at the list of the highest runscorers in ODI cricket over the past 12 months.
Finch has scored 680 runs at an average of 62 in that time, a magnificent return. What his many critics should note is that his strike rate of 94 over that period is better than 12 of the 18 batsmen above him on that list. Better than the strike rates of ODI stars such as Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Hashim Amla, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, MS Dhoni, Ross Taylor and Faf du Plessis.
If Finch is supposedly hurting his team with slow scoring, then so too are many of the leading ODI batsmen in the world. Of course, the dissing of Finch and his scoring rate is the by-product of the inevitable scramble for a scapegoat as any team falters and their followers seek to pin the blame.
For some reason people thought that Finch, who scored tons in the first two ODIs, was as worthy of criticism, or even more so, as his batting colleagues who had failed to capitalise on his fine anchoring innings.
Australia’s middle order has been a major weakness ever since the retirement of Michael Clarke and the decline of George Bailey. Finch is clearly aiming to help counter this issue by being the bedrock of Australia’s innings. In constructing patient tons like he did in Melbourne and Brisbane, he allows other batsmen the freedom to indulge their attacking instincts, safe in the knowledge he is holding up an end.
Finch has done his job well. It was his teammates who failed to capitalise on the sturdy platform he laid for them.
(AFP PHOTO/ANDREW YATES)
England may have overhauled the prevailing wisdom about ODI batting with their hyper-aggressive batting, but 50-over cricket still frequently requires batsmen to play anchor roles. Root and Morgan do just that often for England, accumulating steadily while dynamic batsmen Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales go for their shots.
With Finch batting steadily from one end, Australia have the likes of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis to take on the bowlers. When those batsmen can’t complete that task, it is folly to start blaming Finch. Instead, he should be praised for being Australia’s most consistent batsman over the past 12 months.
In that time, Finch has incredibly passed 50 in seven of his 11 knocks, which equates to a ratio of 64 per cent. Compare that to the fifty-plus ratios of Australia’s two best batsmen, Warner (31%) and Smith (24%).
Warner has still had a fine year in ODIs, with 678 runs at 56, but Smith has been very poor, with 367 runs at 33 at a genuinely slow strike rate of 82. If any one player is to cop heavy blame for the dire state of Australia’s ODI batting at present, it should be the skipper.
When Smith arrived at the crease yesterday, Australia’s required run rate was a very manageable six runs per over to chase down England’s total of 302. By the time he departed for a dawdling 45 from 66 balls, that required rate had ballooned to 7.62 runs per over, an incredibly tough task on a slow SCG pitch and one Australia could not handle as they lost by 16 runs.
Smith has scored at a strike rate of just 79 so far across this series, which is much too slow when you’re playing against the most attacking batting line-up in the world.
Not only has he laboured with the bat for some time now, but Smith’s on-field captaincy has been ordinary, too.
It is Smith, not Finch, who needs to step up to help put this floundering Australian ODI team back on track.
Don Freo
Guest
Wow! You have a conspiracy theory for every aspect of life. What a sad way to live.
1st&10
Guest
Starc seems to have been reading his positive 2016/17 press clippings too much. He is also protected in the Ch 9 conflict of interest commentary box in Healy.
1st&10
Guest
The capital C should never be adjacent to Warner
Ashan D
Roar Pro
The club you are not in DF. Of course you must be so happy since JL has got most of his West Aussies in the team now.
Perry Bridge
Guest
#Don Freo How you figure the numbers provided prove Finch to be a one pace player is beyond me. Please do confirm - because your credibility is severely lacking otherwise. Finch WAS very game aware in the first match - losing 3 wickets inside the first 15 overs DOES impact the freedom he could display. THAT is game awareness. It was unfortunate he got out shortly after bringing up the 100 as it is clear he was intending to step it up. Not sure about M.Marsh - he got out to the spinner looking all at sea despite being an overly patient 50 at the time. In game 2 - what you seem to have overlooked is that Finch was going 'unders' with respect to the strike - he got out on the 241st legal ball, he'd faced 113, vs 128 at the other end, and for that 15 ball imbalance, he'd score 106 vs 107 at the other end. This suggests the ability of all involved in turning over the strike is lacking. Clearly the batters at the other end have an over developed capacity of picking out the fielders!!! And this is back to your BBL comparison re running between the wickets - well - clearly that only holds in part to an ODI. In BBL the 2nd 10 overs is more akin to the last 10 in an ODI- so, a greater call for risky running. The level of risk taking in the first 10 overs of a BBL is still likely to be greater than any other time in an ODI. Let alone - if in full sun on a hot day - there is still going to be an element of 'pacing/conservation of energy'. But yes - in the old days Dean Jones showed how to do it - and Finch could be better, perhaps his history of hammy issues restricts him, perhaps he cramps?
Roostermark
Guest
On flat pitches that offer nothing and no swing they are fodder, maybe Starc if he can get back his old pace of 150 kph but that's been missing for a long while. We haven't had real fast bowlers who can trouble the batsmen with sheer pace since Lee and Tait.. On these batting roads that's whats needed or go with the trick bowlers who change every second ball up.
I ate pies
Guest
M Marsh or Stoinis, yep. The team needs to be better balanced Thanks for the compliment.
bazza200
Roar Rookie
Totally agree smith has been poor. Our lower order hitting hasn't been good enough either. bowling plans not good enough either.
Don Freo
Guest
The problem with that blanket condemnation is that the "boys" keep changing in the minds of you accusers depending on whether or not you like a selection. For instance, when Ussie gets selected, is he in the club and when he is not, is he out of the club? Whose club is it? Which boys?
josh
Roar Rookie
Have you only just followed Australian cricket? It's been a boys club since day dot.
amit raj vats
Guest
Michael hussey type of batsman cud have sorted out the woes of australia in odi and t20....hussey is deeply missed
Don Freo
Guest
Who would you exclude for Maxi? In what way is Maxi not a 'boy'?
Don Freo
Guest
India, of course, has nothing to do with this series. Those numbers confirm, exactly, reasons for criticism. He is one-paced and not game aware.
Ashan D
Roar Pro
It has come to a stage where Smith and Maxwell can't b in the same team. How pathetic that the Aussie national cricket team has become a boy's club.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Couldn't agree more with your points. I can't comprehend how Finch gets hammered for his performances in these three games. Clearly, our best performing player yet some want to throw him under a bus and ignore the poor performances by others.
elvis
Guest
4 for a test win, 2 for a one day win and 1 for a T20 win. Half for a draw. Currently Aus 18 Eng 8
JamesH
Roar Guru
If I was going to pick Khawaja I’d open with him. He really seems to like batting at the top in this format. Marsh could develop into a really good top no 3, since he would have a newer ball to hit and wouldn’t have to worry so much about rotating the strike early in his innngs.
maverick
Roar Rookie
So you want to drop stoinis,one of the best performers in the ODI side.Good point.
Rob
Guest
Smith has adapted his batting for Test cricket. So much so he relies heavily on bowlers attacking the stumps and working them through the leg side. He has basically learnt to be extremely patient and wait for bowlers to come to him and hit the ball along the ground. His off side play has become almost non existent in comparison. He's strength is he almost impossible to remove and is very quick between the wickets. Finch and M. Marsh are slow between the wickets which greatly effects Smith, Warner and others putting pressure on, running between the wickets.
Paul Potter
Roar Guru
Would be interesting to see if Trent Woodhill, his batting coach, would argue that this shows how the shorter formats of the game are more difficult to master.