Lahore: Australia’s interim men’s coach Andrew McDonald reaffirmed his faith in the leadership qualities of limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch despite his poor form, saying that there was no conversation among the administrators to replace him ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup at home later this year.
Australia recently lost the ODI series to Pakistan 1-2 with the hosts winning the last of the three matches by nine wickets after Babar Azam blasted an unbeaten 105 to chase down the tourists’ below-par score of 210 with more than 12 overs to spare at the Gaddafi Stadium. Finch and Travis Head were out for duck in the series decider.
It was also Australian limited-overs skipper’s second successive duck — a first in his international career. Finch has scored just 101 runs in his last eight international knocks this year, including a tough T20I series against Sri Lanka in February.
However, McDonald, who is in-charge of the team after Justin Langer stepped down ahead of the series against Pakistan, said that Cricket Australia (CA) had full faith in the abilities of Finch as he aims to defend the World T20 crown at home in October-November this year.
“From my end, there’s no conversation around the (possibility) that he won’t be there,” McDonald, who is the front-runner to succeed Langer as full-time coach, told cricket.com.au on Monday.
“His (Finch) form can ebb and flow — like most players’ can — and his ability to work through these patches has been significant in his career. We had the same conversation about (opener) David Warner leading into the T20 World Cup last (year), so all these conversations are going to happen.
“Do we think he’s still good enough to play this level? One hundred per cent yes. That’s as simple as it gets for us and we’re building a team around him as captain. It’s a pretty significant pillar to be discussing about not being at the T20 World Cup. From our end, we think he can still play at this level, 100 per cent,” added McDonald.
Finch, 35, will get another opportunity to strike form when Australia take on Pakistan in the one-off T20 International at the Gaddafi Stadium here on April 5. McDonald said Finch had been working on his footwork to get back among the runs.
“He’s disappointed with his current form, no doubt about that. Currently, he’s probably not moving the way that he wants to in terms of his mechanics. I’m sure the commentators and those who have been watching have critiqued that — he’s not moving as we would like him (to be) and as he would like to be.
“That’s something that we need to rectify. He’s working on it at training. We’ve been down this path before – sometimes he can get his legs crossed over a little bit and get a little bit too much weight on that left leg. It’s not an uncommon thing so hopefully we can work through it. The timeframes in between these games over here (Pakistan) haven’t created the time that you would like to work on that,” added McDonald.
–IANS