I think Travis Head will get some opportunities with ODI retirement of Aaron Finch: Andrew McDonald

Following his multiple poor performances in the 50-over format, former Australia skipper Aaron Finch announced his sudden retirement from ODI cricket in early September. The decision can be considered shocking based on the impact Finch can create up in the order and especially with no one definite to take his opening spot. However, as things stand, Australia Head Coach Andrew McDonald has already a name in his mind to replace Finch.

After Australia’s early exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup, the focus for Australia has completely shifted to the ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in late 2023 in India. In the build-up to the mega tournament, the Kangaroos will first challenge England in a three-match series with new captain Pat Cummins at the helm. When it comes to replacing Finch, McDonald revealed that the 28-year-old Travis Head will be given more opportunities.

“I think Travis Head will get some opportunities with the retirement of Aaron Finch. We're excited to see what he can do in one-day cricket. We saw how he went in Pakistan against a world-class attack, he was able to take them on and his one-day domestic record is second to none. He's got big hundreds, and double hundreds,” said the Head Coach while speaking to the media.

I think you'll see a very strong side named in the coming days: McDonald on England series

With Australia’s early exit from the T20 World Cup, the Kangaroos will now be able to get proper rest before gearing up for the England series. McDonald revealed that in case the Aussies would have qualified for the next round of the tournament, the team may have given rest to some players but since that is not the case, they will field a very strong side against the Three Lions.

“I think any time you get to play, it's with as full-strength squad as you can. We saw that with the NZ series up north earlier, we were really keen to see what it would look like with as close to full strength as possible. We've got a little bit of a gap now because we've obviously exited (the World Cup) early so that allows us to play players that potentially – if we had have gone deep into this tournament – we wouldn't have. So I think you'll see a very strong side named in the coming days,” the former cricketer added in the media interaction.