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Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch backed Pat Cummins’ declaration that the team needed to move to a more collaborative approach as being a key factor in their lack of support for Justin Langer being retained as coach.
Finch on Thursday fronted the media in Sydney to preview Friday’s start of the five-match T20 series against Sri Lanka, and reiterated many of the points that the Test skipper had made 24 hours earlier about the players wanting a fresh start after four years under Langer.
When asked about his involvement in the controversial Cricket Australia review into Langer’s contract negotiations, Finch – who is also the captain of the 50-over team, said the time was right for a new voice in the dressing room.
“We sat down in August and talked through all of that, about things to improve and gave our feedback pretty much. That was as much conversation that I’ve really had about it all,” he said.
“Like Pat said yesterday, it’s not our decision to be made but we gave all our feedback along the way and we’ve got to move on from that now and start with the Australian cricket team hopefully winning this series.”
Finch said he had made contact with Langer in recent days via “a couple of text messages”.
He didn’t want to buy into the criticism from former players about the role of the current team in the process.
“I think that throughout the whole thing everyone’s going to have their own opinions and regardless of where you sit on the subject that it’s important that we remember that Pat has done a really good job as captain over the Test series, the Ashes.
“Like Patty said yesterday, guys are sticking up for their mates and we’re doing the same thing.
“JL did an amazing job for four years and that ended with a brilliant T20 World Cup win and a brilliant 4-0 Ashes win. As a playing group, we couldn’t thank him enough and I know personally the amount of work he’s done for me as a batter, as a person, as a leader, it has been fantastic.”
The Victorian veteran is in favour of a more collaborative approach in each of the three squads rather than Langer’s initial hard-line style which changed late last year after he received player feedback.
“I think we’ve started to get there over the last few months in particular with a really collaborative approach to the way that the team’s ran and that’s something that’s been consistent across all three formats.
“Patty and I have spoken about that and that’s really important to us.
“It’s the way that the team functions best. It’s a group that has played so much internationally as well. There’s a lot of experience there and trying to tap into all of that is really important to the group.
“I think the group’s in a really different space from four years ago, I think it’s quite an experienced group so there’s going to be a lot of opinion and there’s going to be a lot of people who want to be consulted and talk through certain situations and scenarios, and I think that’s a really good place to start.”
Finch said he was not sure whether the coaching role should be split between the red and white ball squads.
Josh Inglis is set to debut in tomorrow night's opening T20 against Sri Lanka @LouisDBCameron | #AUSvSL https://t.co/McGAMEJrdW pic.twitter.com/l0juZj87pP
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 10, 2022
He also endorsed interim coach Andrew McDonald as a potential long-term successor to Langer, saying his calm approach and attention to detail could complement the strengths of the team.
Finch said expectations had risen after winning the T20 World Cup in the UAE in November heading into Australia hosting the next tournament at the end of the year.
He confirmed Josh Inglis would make his international debut with the Perth Scorcher set to come in at No.3 in the order while another explosive hitter in the Hobart Hurricanes’ Ben McDermott would also be a new face in the line-up, opening alongside Finch.
Finch said Matthew Wade would retain the keeping duties despite Inglis and McDermott also being capable glovemen.
David Warner and Mitch Marsh are the two absentees from the team which defeated New Zealand in the World Cup final.
Australian team for first T20: Ben McDermott, Aaron Finch (c), Josh Inglis, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
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