“I was disappointed but I can’t really kick cans”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Opening batsman Aaron Finch has admitted that he has no one to blame but himself after he was dropped from Australia’s ODI squad for their upcoming five-match series against Pakistan, which begins on January 13.
Finch, who was axed in favour of Usman Khawaja, has failed to score a century in his last 19 ODI innings. In that same period of time, he has only managed to make four half-centuries.
While he was gutted to lose his place in the side, Finch conceded that he wasn’t surprised, especially considering his lack of runs with the bat.
“I was disappointed but I can’t really kick cans. I haven’t made may runs in the last couple of series,” he said. “It’s something like 215 runs in 10 hits and that’s just not really good enough. When you have guys performing well in this [the BBL] and the Matador Cup – of course I’m disappointed but I have no one to blame but myself.
“They just said make some more runs. When Trevor [Hohns, the interim head of the selection panel] rang me I just said ‘I can’t disagree with you, which is the sad thing’. Usually when you’re dropped you want to be able to fire back some bullets but I had absolutely nothing!”
In the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) season, Finch, who captains the Melbourne Renegades, has had better luck with the bat as he has scored 144 runs in four matches at an average of 36.
However, even if he leads his side to the BBL final, he admitted that it won’t make up for the disappointment of being omitted from Australia’s ODI squad.
“I don’t really see that as a silver lining, no,” he said. “You never want to be dropped, and any time you get an opportunity to play for Australia you take it with both hands no matter what’s happening around you. I’m disappointed not to have that opportunity now but I only have myself to blame. I can’t be too disappointed.
“I need to stop making 30s and 20s and start making match-winning scores. I haven’t done that. I’m trying to get the side off to a good start but I’ve got out when I’ve done the hard work, which is frustrating. I’m hitting them beautifully at the moment and picking it up well but just getting out. I got deceived a bit for length today but that happens when you’re going hard in a T20. When a guy gets in at the top everyone can bat around them but I’m not doing that at the moment – I’m exposing new batsmen at once, which is not ideal.”