AUS vs ENG 2018: Aaron Finch Believes Players can Carry BBL Form to the ODI Format

A wicket-keeper is one of the vital components in a cricket team, and his performance makes a huge impact on the success or failure of the entire team, be it with the gloves or with the bat.

The Australian team has always been particular about their wicket-keeper and has hardly ever compromised with the spot. Australia went into the Ashes with Tim Paine, who made a comeback to the national side after a gap of six years.

Paine’s inclusion paid off, as he played some crucial knocks for the hosts scoring 219 runs in seven innings for Australia who eventually regained the Ashes. Paine also played a handy knock in the first ODI in Melbourne and re-built the innings after the Aussies had lost two set batsmen in quick succession.

Paine has now been ruled out of the second ODI due to a gastro bug which is doing the rounds in the entire Australian camp. Alex Carey has been called as Paine’s replacement in the second ODI on the back of a brilliant hundred for Adelaide Strikers on Thursday in the BBL.

Australian opener, Aaron Finch believes the keepers can carry their form in the BBL to the ODI format. Finch thinks opening in the T20 format is similar to batting lower down the order in an ODI.

Finch said,

“In a funny way (batting down the order is) a very similar spot to opening the batting in T20, when you have to walk out there and look to dominate and score heavily from the first couple of balls. Sometimes in a one-day game, the No.7 is coming in with only a handful of balls or a few overs left, and they’ve got to get on with it quick. So in a funny kind of way, I think it’ll actually help them being opening batters, particularly in the T20 form where you have to get on with it straight away.” 

Australia lost the first ODI and trail 1-0 in the five-match ODI series. The right-handed batsman says that losing wickets in clusters at crucial intervals has been Australia’s area of concern in the ODI format. He said,

“Something we’ve talked a lot about over the last 18 months is having set guys going into the back half of the innings, particularly the last ten overs. For Mitch and I to leave us hanging like that was disappointing, (it) probably cost us maybe 30 or 40 runs there towards the end … it’s just been the same theme for a little while now. That’s one spot that (captain) Steve (Smith) and (coach) Darren (Lehmann) have both identified quite critically in the past, and rightfully so.”

“In India, there were quite a few times when we had the opportunity to take the game really deep and put some pressure on at the back end, and just lost a couple of wickets at the wrong time, and same again in the first game.”

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