AUS v SA 2018: Aaron Finch refrains from revealing Australia's XI for the first ODI

The three-match ODI series kickstarts at Perth on November 4.

The Australian skipper is extremely determined for the task | Getty

Skipper Aaron Finch said that Australia's 14-man squad has been narrowed down to 11 for the first ODI at Perth on November 4 but confirmed that the main XI will only be announced on the match day versus Proteas. 

Finch also said that he is "very keen" to turn the corner for Australia, who have now lost 16 of their past 18 completed one-day internationals, and informed that all the players are available for the task. 

"I think it would be unfair to the guys coming into the squad to dwell too much on the negatives," Finch was quoted saying on Saturday, November 3, "Whenever you have new guys coming in it's about making them feel comfortable in the environment, not trying to put doubt or fear in their mind about an end result. If we can follow our process and do our basics well enough that (winning) will start taking care of itself."

"If you start looking at the end result purely that's when you can make some errors in judgement and fall down that way. It's just important to keep it nice and positive and follow our processes as opposed to the full outcome," he added. 

In line with this, visiting captain Faf du Plessis also refrained from confirming his XI before the encounter and said that the composition of the bowling attack remains a problem to solve, where he is in two minds whether to play wrist-spin twins Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi or opt for a pace-heavy line-up.

He said, "We've got two really good spinners but we've also got a nice seam attack. It's about trying to balance out what we want to try and do according to what the conditions are giving us here tomorrow." 

The calm and composed Faf further said that the focus is definitely on the job and his boys are not taking the opposition lightly at all. 

"Whenever you get a chance to play against Australia it feels like you're playing against a very good cricket team, When you look at what they've got in their squad at the moment on paper there are some fantastic names there with the ball and with the bat," he said, "The results have not been as good as they would have liked, but from our point of view it's really important you look at Australia as a team they when there's a clash between Australia and South Africa it's always a tough one," and signed off. 

(Inputs from cricket.com.au)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 03 Nov, 2018

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