Aaron Finch Confident Of Other Players Stepping-Up To Perform The Injured David Warner's Role As Opener

Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch has admitted that losing his opening partner David Warner due to injury is a big blow to the side ahead of the third ODI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.

Warner suffered a groin injury after falling awkwardly while trying to save a boundary in the last game at Sydney. The southpaw has now been ruled out of the 3rd ODI and the upcoming T20I series as the home side sweat over his fitness ahead of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Hailing David Warner as an ‘all-time great’ in limited-overs cricket, Aaron Finch said that losing a player of his class will make any side weaker but the swashbuckler asserted that the home side, who have already sealed the ODI series in the 2nd match, have enough options in the form of Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey or even Marnus Labuschagne to step-up and contribute in that role.

“He’s an all-time great in one-day, T20 cricket. Any team that he’s not a part of is going to be slightly weaker. But we’ve got guys that can step up and really contribute in that role as well.” Aaron Finch told reporters ahead of the 3rd ODI.

 

“I think he’s going OK’- Aaron Finch on Mitchell Starc

Apart from David Warner’s injury, another cause of worry for Australia ahead of the four-match Test series is the form of Mitchell Starc.

The veteran pacer has looked completely off the boil in the first tw0 games of the summer, recording figures of 0-65 in ten overs in the first ODI and 0-82 in nine in the last game.

Aaron Finch came out in support of the underfire Starc, adding that there are no ‘panic stations’ as of yet and that the team-management will hold discussions on how to deploy the southpaw at various stages throughout the match.

“I think he’s going OK. He hasn’t been at his very best and you have to understand that his standards are a lot higher than what you expect from most other people because of how dominant he’s been the last eight, nine years — especially in the white-ball formats,” Aaron Finch said.

“There will be some conversations had today about what we can do slightly different, whether it’s a tactical thing, when we’re using him through the innings. But there’s definitely no panic stations from my point of view.” he added.

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