Cricketer Aaron Finch | Photo Credit: AP
Aaron Finch has retired from all international cricket after leading Australia in a record 76 matches as captain of the Twenty20 team.
Mr Finch guided Australia to their maiden T20 World Championship in 2021 and was again captain last year. unsuccessful title defense on home soil,
The 36-year-old top-order batsman won the Cricket World Cup title with Australia in the 50-over format at home in 2015 and played five Test matches in an international career spanning 12 years.
“Realizing that I will not play until the next T20 World Cup in 2024, now is the right time to step down and give the team time to plan and build that programme,” Finch told a news conference. February 7 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Fast bowler Pat Cummins became Captain of Australia’s ODI team When Mr Finch retired from the one-day format last October to focus on T20 cricket. Cricket Australia has not announced a replacement for the T20 squad.
Australia had dominated the traditional one-day format in four of the last six World Cups but were unable to convert it into the T20 version of the game until Mr Finch’s side lifted the title against the odds. UAE in late 2021.
Overall, Mr Finch played 146 ODIs at an average of nearly 39 and 103 T20 Internationals at an average of 34.28 and a strike rate of 142.53. He has twice held the record for the highest score in a T20 international, posting 156 against England in 2013 and then setting the current mark of 172 against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2018.
Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said Mr Finch finished as one of Australia’s best limited-overs players.
“Throughout the flight, there were few batsmen more potent than Aaron, evidenced by the fact that he holds two of the three highest scores ever in T20 International cricket,” Henderson said. “While he was a tough competitor on the field, Aaron always played the game with a smile on his face and the right spirit.”