Aaron Finch: "Everyone had written us off"

Australia's captain disagrees with the notion that an Australia-New Zealand final was a surprise, instead praising both the spirit shown by his team in the UAE and Kane Williamson's talented New Zealand side

Aaron Finch has praised his team’s spirit and confidence ahead of their T20 World Cup final against New Zealand on November 14.

Australia arrived in the UAE with just four wins from their 15 T20Is in 2021, recording consecutive series defeats against New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh, and looked off colour in their World Cup opener against South Africa, completing a laboured chase of 118 with just two balls to spare.

A confident seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka appeared to have them back on track before an eight-wicket humiliation at the hands of England, who, thanks to a blistering Jos Buttler half-century, chased down 125 with 50 balls to spare, had many people ruling Finch’s side out of qualifying for the final four.

However, Australia bounced back in impressive fashion, comfortably defeating Bangladesh and West Indies to finish second in the so-called 'group of death' before completing the second-highest successful chase in a T20I in the UAE to stun favourites Pakistan and reach their first T20 World Cup final since 2010.

When asked about his tournament highlights ahead of the final, Finch replied: "I think the spirit among the team. A lot of people had written us off from the start; everyone had written us off, but we had a lot of confidence within. We came here with a really clear plan to win the tournament, and we still feel as though we’ve got the squad to do that.

^{Adam Zampa has taken a team-leading 12 wickets}

"It’s one that’s eluded us in the past, and the fact that we are here in the final gives us the best opportunity to rectify that."

Reflecting on his side’s disappointing performance against England, he continued: "We didn’t put in our best performance We felt as though in that game we were probably just a little bit timid and got out-played in the powerplay by [Chris] Woakes in particular, who got England off to a good start. It was just about staying really aggressive.

"We understand in this format of the game that when you're up against a great opposition they don't always allow you big opportunities to get into the game, and whether it's bat or ball, you have to really find a small edge at some point and try and drive that advantage home. I think every team plays it very similar, so we just reiterated that's how we wanted to go about it and play that way."

Several players have stood out for Australia with key individual performances in their run to the final. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa is the leading wicket-taker from the Super 12s onwards, taking 12 wickets in six innings, and has only conceded more than 24 runs from his allocation once in tournament. David Warner has scored a team-leading 236 runs at the top of the order, including two half-centuries and a 49, playing himself back into form at just the right time. And of course, there's Matthew Wade, who deservedly grabbed the headlines against Pakistan after smashing 41 runs from just 17 balls to help Australia chase down 176 with an over to spare – a knock made even more impressive when you consider he was eight off nine at the end of the 16th over.

However, when pressed on who his star performers have been in the tournament, Finch insisted it has been, and always will be, a team effort. "At some point throughout the tournament, everyone in our XI has had a match-winning contribution, which has been really impressive. I don’t think it’s down to one person.

"In a big game, you need everyone to chip in their part and that’s part of the pressure of a final. If it’s your day as an individual, trying to maximise that and go in as big as you can. It will come down to the day and who maximises their opportunities."

An astonishing finish from Matthew Wade!#PAKvAUS | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/IznE7anc10

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) November 11, 2021

One area where he is keen to see his side perform, however, is the powerplay: "A lot of games have been dictated by who has won the initial contest in the powerplay in both innings. It won’t define who wins the match, but it does set up your innings if you perform with the bat or if you can make inroads and get early wickets with the ball. It goes a long way to trying to control the middle overs on your terms."

In Sunday’s final, Finch’s side will face New Zealand, another side who were written off early on after landing themselves in a group with Pakistan, Afghanistan, and pre-tournament favourites India. However, after completing convincing defeats over the latter two sides, Kane Williamson’s side finished second in Group Two before putting on a death batting masterclass of their own to eliminate England.

As such, an Australia-New Zealand final has been billed as something of a surprise conclusion to the tournament – an opinion Finch wholeheartedly disagrees with, citing the Black Caps' excellent form in recent ICC tournaments.

"It’s not unexpected," Finch countered. "We came here with a clear plan to try to win this tournament. We always felt as though we’ve got the depth of squad to put ourselves in a position to do that.

"And New Zealand, they have been in every final for a long time now in ICC events. They are a great team in all three formats of the game. They are a team that can never be underestimated, but maybe people on the outside do. Certainly inside, we don’t. They’ve got firepower, they have got experience, they’ve got class. I’m not surprised one bit. I think it will be a great game."

Picking out the key strengths in Kane Williamson’s side, he continued: "They have got a huge amount of quality and they have shown that over a long period of time now. I think they have been the best powerplay performing team with the ball in this tournament, so that's going to be a challenge.

^{Mitchell Santner (left) and Daryl Mitchell (right) were singled out for praise by Aaron Finch}

"They have got obviously Daryl Mitchell who played a great knock in the last game against England. Martin Guptill, class and power. And then you've got Kane Williamson who is all class as well as a top three. They have got match winners right throughout their innings, and with the bat and ball, Ish Sodhi and Mitch Santner have showed their class in the past as well. It's a game between two sides that are really similarly matched and it will be a great game."

As for his own team selection, Finch refused to reveal his XI for the final – "we’ll keep that under wraps until tomorrow", but did indicate his preference for sticking with seven specialist batters, meaning no Ashton Agar, and a possible floating role for man of the moment Wade.

"We’ve gone with seven specialist batters for a reason. If you have a slight hiccup, we still have a lot of power and balance down the bottom of the order. We talked about [promoting Wade] the other day, but we decided to hold him back towards the end and it paid off. He’s someone who is really versatile in our order – we’ve seen him open the batting, bat at three and now he’s down at seven. He provides a huge amount of flexibility for our team."

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