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Aaron Finch averages only 18 as an opening batsman in the Sheffield Shield yet Australia surprisingly are set to play him at the top of the order in the first Test against Pakistan which starts on Sunday.
Finch looks certain to make his Test debut in Dubai but it won’t be in the middle order where he’s had success in recent years given that he faced the new ball in Australia’s tour match against Pakistan A.
Matt Renshaw was due to open with Finch in that match before he was struck on the helmet while fielding at fine leg and ruled out of the rest of the fixture, with Usman Khawaja replacing him as opener.
Matt Renshaw in the whites. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
It seemed logical that in the Tests that Renshaw would open with either Khawaja or Shaun Marsh – both of whom have done very well in their limited appearances as Test openers.
Khawaja has opened the batting twice in Tests, for scores of 145 and 79no, while Marsh has made 343 runs at 43 at the top of the order.
Instead, Australia appears set to make the shock choice of opening with Finch who has floundered across his eight innings as an opener for Victoria in the Shield, making 148 runs at 18.
That failed stint came across 2013 and 2014 when regular Victorian opener Chris Rogers was promoted to the Test team.
Finch has never again opened for Victoria or in English county cricket.
Victoria quickly realised that Finch, with his leaden footwork and reliance on great hand-eye coordination, was not well suited to facing the new ball.
Instead, his forceful approach was tailor-made for the middle order, where he would be less likely to encounter a moving ball and had greater freedom to take on the bowlers.
Over the past four years, he has settled into a middle order role with Victoria and has rebuilt his first-class career.
He has also batted in the middle order during the 15 county matches he has played during that same period.
When Finch was picked in Australia’s 15-man squad for the Tests against Pakistan it was widely believed he would be batting at either four or five as he does for Victoria and Surrey.
Now it appears that Australia may be looking at him as a potential long-term opener.
Not only would that seem not to suit Finch, who surely would be better off staying in the middle order, but it casts doubt over the short-term futures of the likes of specialist openers Renshaw and Joe Burns.
With banned Test opener Cameron Bancroft to return to cricket in January, and star opener David Warner three months later, there will be a logjam at the top of the order for Australia.
That is yet another reason it would seem more sensible to play Finch in his favoured middle-order position instead of as a makeshift opener.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
If Finch does open on Sunday it will be the latest in a series of bizarre selections for this series against Pakistan.
It still boggles the mind that fading veteran Peter Siddle and greenhorn Brendan Doggett were picked ahead of Chris Tremain who was the leading wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield over the past three years.
It will be equally confusing if batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who averages 34 in first-class cricket, plays the first test ahead of the likes of Burns and Glenn Maxwell.
Finch is a greatly-improved first-class batsman – there is no doubt about it. He’s also been in astonishing form in white ball cricket over the past year.
There is merit in handing him a debut, but asking him to become a Test opener would be unwise.