Australia's limited-overs captain and opener, Aaron Finch, came to defence of his team's middle-order after their alarming failure to take the side through in the first T20I against England in Southampton on Friday (September 4). 

Amidst criticism, Finch especially shielded Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell after their shot-making in the situation raised eyebrows. 

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Following a brisk start given by Finch alongside David Warner with a 98-run opening stand inside 11 overs chasing 163, Australia needed Smith & company to simply steer the ship. However, they lost the plot completely after Smith got out caught at deep midwicket off wrist-spinner Adil Rashid, finishing two runs short. 

Finch said both Smith and Maxwell played according to the gameplan. 

"They were both playing to a gameplan, so I think if you can separate the execution and the gameplan, you can look a bit deeper into it," he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. 

"T20 games are about making sure you take on your options and matching that up with the right gameplan so there's plenty to work on. I'd probably be more critical of myself and Davey, who got us off to good start and neither of us really kicked on to have a match-winning contribution," Finch added. 

Beyond Smith and Warner-Finch duo at the top, Australia's middle-order wasn't tested as much even last year when they won seven of their eight completed T20Is the previous season. The result here laid bare the problem which continues to hold back the side while playing ODIs as well. 

"We knew that England were going to keep coming hard and they executed really well," Finch said. "We just struggled to find the boundary a bit in that 12-18 over mark. That is something to keep working on and that's not the first time it's happened, so as long as the boys keep learning and improve at it, lesson learned."

The captain, though, remains optimistic of a turnaround for batsmen deeper down in the line-up and a strong comeback with victory in the second T20I on Sunday. 

"There was plenty of stuff to be positive about. If you can separate the result and just look at it at individual points, I think there was some great stuff. Obviously, it would have been ideal to get over the line, but England are a bloody good side."

"You look at how they went approached their middle overs as well and they were quite one-dimensional with how they went about it, but it was a simple plan and they executed it which was the most important thing."

"We had a couple of good hit-outs against each other but when you pull on the colours against England, it's a different thing," he signed off.