In Aaron Finch’s 218-game international white ball career, only seven times has he batted as low as No.5.
The Australia captain flagged on Thursday that he could do just that in the coming months as he searches for form with another T20 World Cup looming.
With all due respect to Sri Lanka, if there’s ever a time to try something different, it’s in two T20 dead rubbers against a team that’s rebuilding.
But to reduce Finch’s slide down the order to just a mere experiment would be to shy away from genuine problems within Australia’s batting, despite being world champion.
MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs Sri Lanka, live scoreboard, fourth T20
Watch The Dettol T20 Series Australia vs Sri Lanka. Every Game Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
With so few opportunities, no team experiments for the sake of experimentation.
Finch has been vague when explaining why he’s being tried outside of his traditional opening role, but the answer could be found within Australia’s recent T20 performances.
It’s easy to forget now, but Australia twice heavily flirted with elimination from the World Cup with a number of batters — including Finch — failing to hit top gear.
Australia scraped through the pool stage having suffered a mammoth eight-wicket defeat against England with 50 balls remaining, while Pakistan was almost through to the final until Matthew Wade’s dismissal was deemed a no-ball.
He went on to hit three-consecutive sixes to rescue Australia from the jaws of defeat.
Prior to the final against New Zealand, Australia’s batting numbers didn’t make for overly strong reading.
Glenn Maxwell was averaging 9.00, Finch 21.66 while Steve Smith was striking under 100 for his average of 23.00.
Among those three, problems remain.
READ MORE
‘IT’D BE AWESOME’: Gilly endorses ‘hurt’ Langer’s England defection
TEAM NEWS: Aussies set for mass T20 changes as ‘big three’ sent home
‘NOT IDEAL’: Aussie hopeful opens up on frustration as brutal Test wait stretches on
Maxwell remains a lock, but his all-or-nothing style has too often produced the latter recently. His 39 against Sri Lanka on Tuesday was his first T20I score over 30 in 12 innings, and involved him being dropped three times.
Meanwhile, Finch has this series made scores of 8, 25 and 35, extending a run of 11 T20I innings without a half-century.
Since departing for Australia’s tour of the Caribbean in mid 2021, Finch is averaging 22.00 from 15 innings with a strike rate of 114.58.
Finch has particularly struggled against wrist-spin, as evidenced by consecutive dismissals to Wanindu Hasaranga wrong-uns in the first two T20s.
“I don’t think he picks wrist spin,” Mark Waugh noted after the first wicket.
“I think he’s very good against orthodox spin, that’s his sweet spot. But wrist spin — it doesn’t surprise me (he’s struggling).”
There’s no doubt Finch is already a legend of Australia’s white ball teams, but a sudden move into the middle-order is not what you’d expect of a player meant to be a World Cup lock at the top of the order.
In truth, there’s one player that’s arguably far closer to the T20 exit — and could provide a stronger explanation for Finch’s move.
The value of having Smith as an anchor — and the value of the role in T20 cricket entirely — is under consideration with Australia failing to reach big totals.
When batting first, Australia has only surpassed 165 once in its past eight attempts, while Smith’s involvement has occasionally limited the impact of more explosive batters Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis.
The second T20 provided the perfect example; Smith laboured to 14 runs off 15 balls while Wade was only afforded four balls, which he smoked 13 runs from.
It led to Shane Warne questioning whether playing Smith is the right way moving forward.
“This is the only downside of having Steve Smith as Mr Fix-It at the end,” Warne said on Fox Cricket at the time. “Yes, he can still score boundaries, but Matthew Wade hasn’t faced a ball.
“When you have Smith as Mr Fix-It, when he’s still there at the end, then Wade or Stoinis might not get a hit which means Australia won’t be able to post that huge score ... you can’t waste these guys, these power hitters have to take up these deliveries. These guys have got to
be out there.”
Kerry O’Keeffe then questioned whether Australia was opting for the right set-up in its batting order.
“That’s why the formula has got to be right. Does Australia need an anchor? Or is it seven who go for it?”
Warne responded: “I think it’s seven who go for it, I don’t think you need an anchor anymore.
“And that’s nothing against Steve Smith, he’s one of our greatest-ever batters, but in this form of the game, the way T20 is played, it’s all about boundaries.”
It’s in this conundrum that we can find a possible answer to Australia’s latest Finch experiment.
Not only is he struggling for runs as is, but a shift away from an opening position could offer selectors the choice to retain Ben McDermott at the top of the order.
McDermott still has plenty of work to do to retain his spot given he averages 15.66 from 18 T20I innings, but given the World Cup is on home soil this year, his BBL form is enticing.
Few are more experienced, or have been more successful, at opening the batting in T20 cricket on Australian shores than McDermott, whose average in all 20-over cricket rockets to 32.52 with a strike rate of 133.14.
Last season alone he top-scored in the BBL with 577 runs at 48.08 with a strike rate of 153.86.
With 2021 World Cup player-of-the-tournament David Warner, and player-of-the-match in the final Mitch Marsh certain to come back in, McDermott’s best chance to stay in the XI is to force Smith out and have Finch slide between No.3 and No.5.
Selectors are also experimenting with spinning all-rounder Ashton Agar opening given their reluctance to move Stoinis and Wade away from their spots at No.6 and No.7.
Finch says he remains “flexible” as selectors look for the right answer.
“Potentially (at) five in the next couple of games, but the coach (Andrew McDonald) isn’t too excited about that prospect,” Finch said before Friday’s fourth T20.
“It’s just something that we’ll talk through when we sit down and discuss what we what we want going forward out of the next couple of games.
“There’s a lot of talk about (strategy) behind the scenes between myself and the coaching staff.”
HOW TO WATCH
Watch The Dettol T20 Series Australia vs Sri Lanka. Every Game Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
TEAMS
Australia XI (possible): Ashton Agar, Ben McDermott, Aaron Finch (c), Josh Inglis/Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Daniel Sams, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson
Sri Lanka XI (possible): Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Shiran Fernando