ICC World Cup 2019 | We have improved nicely overall, feels Aaron Finch
Aaron Finch has stated that the team has moved on from their consecutive series losses to England last year and are now better prepared and experienced to beat them. He also talked about the changes that have taken place in the team while acknowledging that England is indeed a formidable opponent.
Things have not been perfect for Australia ever since they won the World Cup in 2015, especially in the 50-over format of the game. They have struggled to find the right combinations and maintain their status as the world’s best, having suffered a 4-1 and 5-0 series loss to England last year. The hosts contrastingly had had a disastrous last edition but have since soared to the top position in the ODI rankings.
"We tried last year to beat them at their own game and it wasn't very successful. We came up pretty short in that series. That was having quite an inexperienced group at the time, there was a lot of change in the one-day side at the time," Australian skipper Finch stated in an interview to ICC.
"When you've got an inexperienced group, it can hit them a bit harder. It's tough to play someone else's game – you have to be true to your game plan and what your style is," he added.
The Kangaroos have finally managed to find their rhythm in 2019 and have 15 strong players in their World Cup squad with each of them capable of producing a match-winning performance. The turnaround started in the latter half of last year, a few weeks after Justin Langer was appointed as the head coach’s spot. So far, they have accumulated five out of six wins in the quadrennial tournament, with the only loss coming to title contenders India.
"JL definitely played a part in it. Guys that have been around a while and played a lot of one-day cricket, you sensed that that's not a sustainable way to play our one-day cricket. I think we've got the balance well and truly right, we're playing some really good cricket with bat and ball, we're fielding really well. Overall, we're improving nicely," Finch revealed.
The historical rivals will face off each other in what could be a group stage defining game on Tuesday, fittingly to be held at the very home of cricket, Lord’s. Last time they faced each other in the World Cup in 2015, Australia had managed to prevail by a huge margin of 111 runs. However, England has not lost an ODI series since the 2017 Champions Trophy and hence, Finch is not thinking much of their recent shocking loss against Sri Lanka.
"When you look at England over the last four years, they've been bloody consistent, so you can't read a huge amount into it. What we've talked about the whole tournament is if you let your guard down, or your mind slip a bit too far forward, any team can beat you on the day," Finch concluded.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments