Aaron Finch, Australia’s white-ball captain, has possibly brought an end to his red-ball career after he said that he doesn’t see a point in carrying on playing First-Class cricket seeing that his Test career is over.
Finch has played only 5 Tests for Australia and had conceded in 2020 that his Test career was already over. He has 278 runs at an average of 27.8. He last played a Test against India on Boxing Day in 2018.
Saying that he realizes he's not going to play Test cricket again, Finch has called it quits from red-ball cricket.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Finch said: “I don't think I'll play again. There's no point, I'm not going to play Test cricket again so the younger guys in our squad, there are some really talented players, so there's no point me taking up one of those spots when they can be getting really valuable game time. I love playing red-ball cricket, but it's just reality. Unless you're pushing for a Test match, I don't really see the point, to be honest.”
With a packed limited-overs schedule that also has the T20 World Cup in October-November besides international white-ball fixtures throughout, Finch said he would not be pushing for Test selection next year.
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Finch’s last first-class game was on December 7, 2019, when Victoria’s Sheffield Shield clash against Western Australia was abandoned after Day 1 due to the MCG pitch being deemed dangerous, according to the report.
His FC career yielded 4,915 runs at 35.87 in 88 matches. His highest score of unbeaten 288 was for a Cricket Australia XI against the New Zealanders in 2015.
On the upcoming limited-overs series in the sub-continent later this month, Finch said, “It’s always nice to go into a series getting some runs but that’s still a couple of weeks away so now it’s just down to a couple of weeks of training. I feel like I’m hitting it nicely; I’m just tinkering a little bit with my technique and a few really minor changes, so it’s just about trying to get them implemented as quick as I can."
Australia will play three ODIs and a one-off T20I against Pakistan after the three-Test series.
(IANS inputs)
