NEWS
Follow UsAustralia were without some of their key players in the solitary T20I against Pakistan but that didn’t stop Aaron Finch and Co. from earning an impressive three-wicket win.
The 2021 T20 World Cup winners were without David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson and Jhye Richardson but the likes of Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis, Ben McDermott and Travis Head stepped up and helped Australia end their Pakistan tour with a win.
Ellis and Cameron Green shared six wickets between them to restrict Pakistan to 162/8 in their 20 overs. In reply, skipper Finch scored a steady half-century but Head, Inglis, Marcus Stoinis and McDermott all chipped in with crucial cameos and helped Australia chase down the target with five deliveries to spare.
Talking about Ellis, Finch said: "He's someone who brings an unbelievable attitude, an unbelievable work ethic to games and training. His energy, his intensity, his ability to learn really quickly, whether it be with the new ball, old ball, talking to experienced players, coaches, he's just got an amazing attitude that he brings to the table. And he's someone that the boys love playing with.
"When he turns up, he's just got an infectious attitude that he brings and he's just one of those guys that will have a super future because he's prepared to challenge himself each and every day, which is a great sign, especially from a guy who hasn't had a huge amount of international experience."
Meanwhile, Inglis didn’t get an opportunity to feature in the Tests series and was then forced to miss the entire ODI series after testing positive for Covid-19. The wicketkeeper-batter finally got some game-time on Tuesday and smashed 24 off 15 deliveries to make the run-chase slightly easier for the middle-order.
"He's been fantastic. Nothing seems to faze him. The attitude that he brings out in the middle is brilliant. It's good fun batting with him. He's somebody who again takes in so much information and his ability to walk out of a hotel room after seven days of isolation and start off really well was outstanding," Finch said of Inglis.
"And he's just someone again, like Nathan Ellis, the guys love being around and love having him in squads. He's a super player. He's got so much talent as well. So yeah, I've been really impressed with Josh."
Having not scored a fifty in his last 16 international innings, Finch himself had a point to prove and the right-handed opener responded with a knock of 55 off 45 deliveries. Finch did use his feet early in the innings and then planted his left leg well outside the leg-stump to save himself from getting trapped lbw.
"It's something that I tend to do. It's after my initial eight to 10 balls, when you start to get a bit more of a rhythm that I tend to go to that one. Especially, when guys are angling in and attacking the stumps quite a bit more on low bouncing wickets in particular.
"I should have gone to it earlier, shouldn't I? But it's just one of those things. I mean, you get knocked over early. Today the wicket played really nicely against the new ball. There probably wasn't quite as much swing initially. So, yeah, slight tinkering with technique, but that's nothing uncommon."
