Finch to resign from ODI after Sunday match

Aaron Finch has declared he will resign from one-day internationals after the last match of the series against New Zealand in Cairns on Sunday. He will keep on captaining the T20 side into their defence of the World Cup title next month.

“It has been a fantastic ride with some incredible memories, I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of some brilliant one-day sides. Equally, I have been blessed by all those I have played with and the many people behind the scenes. It is time now to give a new leader the best possible opportunity to prepare for and win the next World Cup. I thank all of those who have helped and supported my journey to this point.”

Finch said.

For quite a while he had focused on making the 2023 ODI World Cup in India his swansong, yet said on Sunday he had begun to contemplate this choice before the Zimbabwe series in Townsville and had acknowledged the following year’s competition was far off. However his recent knee problem isn’t causing significant issues; but he does have a troublesome shoulder.

He will currently attempt to protect the T20 title on home soil in what could be the last phase of his international career after Australia claimed the prize for the first time last year.

“I could have tried to play the series against England, and that would have been a bit of a fairytale finishing at the MCG, but I think that’s never been my style to be self-indulgent in any way, So it’s important that whoever takes over the captaincy, and whoever opens the batting, is given the best opportunity to take take the team forward and win the World Cup in 2023. I’m very comfortable and confident I would never have made it that far, just with my body as well as a bit of form.” 

he said.

Australia have eight T20Is (in addition to an extra warm-up match against India) for Finch to attempt to find some form prior to starting their T20 World Cup crusade against New Zealand at the SCG on October 22.

Finch affirmed he was focused on the BBL season with Melbourne Mavericks after the T20 World Cup and would assess his career after that match. The growing T20 franchise world offers Finch a lot of possible choices on the domestic scene. Following the World Cup, Australia have no more T20Is until next August against South Africa.

“They’ll be a decent break before anything else so that will give me a chance to sit down and reassess where everything is at,”

he said.

In spite of the lean finish of his ODI career, Finch will exit with an exceptional record that brought over 5400 runs with 17 hundreds, one of the highest by an Australian after Ricky Ponting (29), David Warner (18) and Mark Waugh (18).

◾️ 5400 runs
◾️ 17 hundreds
◾️ World Cup winner

Aaron Finch ends his ODI career with an outstanding record 👏https://t.co/GmGuz5S2nP

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) September 10, 2022

He made his debut against Sri Lanka at the MCG in 2013 and scored his first 100 against Scotland sometime thereafter when he struck 148. His career best of 153 not out came against Pakistan in Sharjah in March 2019 when he had emerged from a lean run of form which had brought up questions over him ahead of that year’s ODI World Cup. He scored four ODI hundreds in 2019 while gathering 1141 runs.

Finch was initially named T20I captain in 2014 however just before the 2016 World Cup the position was given to Steven Smith as the role was consolidated across the three formats and he was left out toward the beginning of the tournament.

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He was named the permanent white-ball captain after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal which saw Smith banned. He led Australia to the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England before they were vigorously beaten by the hosts.

“I think my T20 form has been pretty good for a little while now, [it’s a] totally different format, but I’m really comfortable that I’m still playing well, just haven’t got as many runs in this format, Don’t know what the difference is, maybe a bit of intent, a bit of risk-taking that you get away with in T20 cricket.”

he said.