Aaron Finch showed he is the man to lead Australia in all short forms of cricket when he etched his name in the T20 international record books with a brilliant 172 against a hapless Zimbabwe attack.
After posting a whopping total of 2-229, Australia won easily in the end, beating Zimbabwe by 100 runs. To go with Finch’s record, Australia set a new mark for highest partnership in men’s T20Is, surpassing the previous record of 171 set by Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson against Pakistan in 2016.
Aaron Finch, in fact, bettered his previous score of 156 against England back in 2013 and now holds the record for facing the most deliveries by a batsman in a T20 international.
Finch’s knock continued his rich vein of form as this year he has carved out 398 international runs at the astonishing average of 199, with a strike rate of 218.68. The dominant right-hander has only been dismissed once in matches against England, New Zealand and Pakistan this year, notching scores of 20*, 36*, 18*, 84 and 68* before his record-breaking ton against Zimbabwe.
Though the knock came against a weak side, it helped keep Australia’s dominant T20 run rolling as they were able to dismantle the No.1 ranked Pakistan a day earlier. That match was highlighted by the unstoppable and unplayable Billy Stanlake, who registered the most economical spell by an Australian fast bowler with figures of 4-0-8-4, which included 18 dots.
Aaron Finch took a blinder in the slips and when it was his turn to bat, the skipper didn’t let the foot off the pedal, blasting four 4s and six 6s in his unbeaten 68. He smashed two massive sixes in a row, one ending up in the Australian change rooms, on the way to a 27-ball half-century.
The T20 skipper is in fine and leading well. He is exactly what Australia needs in the limited overs team. Tim Paine, whose 36 runs in five matches in England was the lowest by an Australian skipper in history, doesn’t even look like fitting into the ODI team at the moment, especially at number seven, which demands brutal hitting from ball one.
Sadly for Paine, Finch and Travis Head look set at the top. With Shaun Marsh cementing the number three spot and Steve Smith likely to return at number four when his ban expires, Paine will struggle to break into the top order.
The five and six spots should be fought between Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. Alex Carey has shown he is capable of being a big hitter in the death, which means Paine doesn’t merit a place in the ODI team as a batsman. That’s why it’s better to appoint Finch as the ODI skipper. He has been scoring mountains of runs at the top of the order.
Bringing back George Bailey, who is a good player of spin, to find a solution to the middle-order woes against a turning ball, would also be a good idea. The veteran is still scoring runs in domestic cricket has experience of doing well in subcontinent conditions.
Make those changes and you’ll have a team which goes from being an underdog to a serious contender for next year’s World Cup.
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