Aaron Finch to take over as Australia’s ODI skipper with two deputies

Aaron Finch’s crown now features one more feather as he will take over as Australia’s ODI captain from the home series against South Africa next month. The dashing right-hand batsman slammed the highest individual score in T20Is earlier this year and also made his debut in Tests in the just-concluded Test series against Pakistan, scoring a fifty. And with his elevation to the helm in the medium format now, one can well conclude that the Victorian has had an impactful 2018.

Finch is already the reigning captain of Australia’s T20I side and he is currently leading his team in a three-game series against Pakistan. Australia defeated UAE in a one-off game by 7 wickets but lost to Pakistan in the first game by 66 runs. Finch failed with the bat in both the games, scoring 1 and 0.

Thus far in his career, the 31-year-old has led Australia in 19 T20I games so far, winning eight and losing nine. Finch’s appointment as the ODI skipper will give a fresh impetus to the Kangaroos who have struggled under the captaincy of wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine since the ban over regular captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner came into effect. Under Paine, Australia suffered a 0-5 loss against England in an away series in June this year.

Finch’s ODI captaincy starts from SA series

Finch’s journey as the ODI skipper will begin with the three-match series against the Proteas starting November 4 in Perth. It will be followed by a T20I. Australia will then play India in a three T20I series followed by four Tests and three ODIs. Finch, however, has led Australia in ODIs in 2017 but failed to earn a single win.

The opening batsman will have his task cut out in the run-up to the next World Cup in 2019. Talking about the Australian squad for the South Africa series, Mitchell Starc, who picked up yet another injury during the Tests against Pakistan, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have made the cut. Hazlewood is also the new vice-captain of the team.

They’ve also appointed wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey as the deputy captain and the three are together expected to lead the team.

“We expect Aaron, Josh and Alex to lead the side through a big Australian summer, where we’ll meet South Africa and India, they’ll also be driving our standards and values as we prepare our defence of the World Cup, which is only seven months away,” said national selector Trevor Hohns.

“Alex Carey will pull on the gloves full-time to allow Tim Paine to focus purely on captaining the Test team, which includes preparing for next year’s Ashes. Alex provides us with another strong batting option, as he displayed in last year’s Big Bash, and he’s a wonderful young leader to have around the group and out in the field,” he added

Australia ODI Squad: Aaron Finch (c), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc & wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

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