Australia’s Aaron Finch retire from ODI cricket, to continue in T20Is: In a huge development, Australian Men’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch called time on his One Day International (ODI) career, on Saturday (10th September). Finch, for one last time, will walk out to bat in an ODI match, tomorrow (Sunday), against New Zealand at Cairns.
“It has been a fantastic ride with some incredible memories,” Finch said. “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.”
The Aussie white-ball skipper will cap his ODI career on 146 matches on Sunday in which so far he has plundered 5401 runs at an average of 39, besides scoring 17 centuries in the format.
In fact, he is only behind Ricky Ponting (29), David Warner (18), and Mark Waugh (18) in the list of most ODI centuries for Australia. With a total of 17 tons, Finch is placed fourth on the list, one clear of Adam Gilchrist, who has 16.
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Notably, Aaron Finch has endured an awful run in the 50-over format this year. The flamboyant batter has only managed to score 169 runs at an average of 13 from his last 12 outings. To make it even worse, he was dismissed for a duck on five of his last 12 innings, including his last ODI match at Cairns, two days ago.
Although Finch, 35, had his eye fixed at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, however, he reckons that the tournament is out of his reach. Moreover, he is also facing a couple of injury issues. Though knee injury is not causing a lot of hindrances, the shoulder is troublesome.
Australia under Aaron Finch’s captaincy will look to defend the T20 World Cup 2022 in their own backyard. He, last year in the UAE, made his team world T20 champions by defeating New Zealand in the final of the T20 World Cup 2021.
This year’s T20 World Cup will begin on October 22, when Australia will face the Black Caps in Sydney.
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