ICC World Cup 2019 | We’ve come a long way since the last time we were in England, says Aaron Finch
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Aaron Finch believes that despite the defeat, his team can take heart in the leaps and bounds they’ve come in the last 12 months to play in the World Cup semi-final. Australia were thoroughly outplayed by England, who beat them by eight wickets to send their Ashes rivals packing.
Just over 12 months ago, Australia’s bowlers were humiliated on English soil as England’s tall batting lineup smashed for a world record 481 runs in 50 overs. Their star players, David Warner and Steve Smith, were serving a 12-month ban from cricket, leaving their playing XI in disarray. The Aussies looked a shadow of their once mighty self. That is exactly why Finch is proud of the way his boys have come back, and come this far, in the last six months, and at this World Cup as well.
"A lot of positives to take out of the World Cup campaign. We've come a long way since the last time we were in England. You always want to win, you come thinking you can win, but there have been positives. In the last six months or so, there has been a lot of character shown, but it still hurts. We came here with a couple of injuries but that's not an excuse. We came here wanting to win but it wasn't to be," Finch said at the post-match presentation, reported Cricbuzz.
Australia had played some of the best cricket at this tournament leading up to the semi-final. They were only really comprehensively beaten by India. Even the South Africa loss was a tight affair. At the top, Warner and Finch were nearly unstoppable, scoring more than 1100 runs between them. Mitchell Starc lead the bowling attack with 26 wickets in the league stage. But it just did not happen for them in the semis. Finch believes his team were never in the game after their top order collapse.
"Totally outplayed today. The way they set the tone with the ball and getting to 27/3 after ten overs was a huge part of the game. And it was too hard for us to get back from. You do expect the new ball to seam first up, but they bowled really well by targeting the stumps and bowled a great length, something that we tried to do as well. They played exceptionally well, know how dynamic, dominating they are. It's just one of those days, things didn't go our way and when you don't execute your plans well, you get hurt by a really good team," Finch said.
Things might have been different had Australia somehow managed to cross the line against South Africa in the last league match. It would’ve put them up against New Zealand at Old Trafford, instead of England. But the Aussie captain completely shrugged off this suggestion by noting that a champion team is expected to beat anyone, anywhere.Â
"You've got to beat everyone in every condition. You can't read too much into that,” Finch added.
