Aaron James Finch is an Australian international cricketer who captains the Australian cricket team in limited overs cricket. Finch currently holds the record for two of the three highest individual scores in Twenty20 Internationals, his score of 172 against Zimbabwe in July 2018 beating his previous record of 156 against England in 2013. In July 2018, he became the first player to reach 900 rating points on the official International Cricket Council T20I rankings. He made his Test debut for Australia in October 2018. Finch plays domestically for Victoria, Surrey and Melbourne Renegades. He is a top order batsman, and occasional left arm orthodox spinner.
Junior and domestic career
As a junior, Finch played at Colac West Cricket Club in the Colac & District Cricket Association as a wicket-keeper. A right-handed batsman, he played in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. Finch got his opportunity to become established as a regular in the Victorian side in the 2009/10 season. He hit his maiden first-class cricket century against Tasmania at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in a partnership of 212 runs for the third wicket with David Hussey. In October 2012, while filling in as captain, he scored 154 runs at the Gabba against Queensland, a new highest score for Victoria in domestic one day cricket. After playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the inaugural Big Bash League season in 2011, he captained the side in 2012 and was the Big Bash League player of the year. In December 2015, Finch became the first player to score 1,000 runs in the Big Bash. Finch has played county cricket in England, first for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2014 and 2015 before joining Surrey from 2016. In July 2018, during the 2018 t20 Blast, he scored 131 not out for Surrey, setting a new record for the highest T20 individual score for Surrey in a county match.
International career
Finch made his international debut for Australia in a T20I against England in January 2011. Two years later he made his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka. In August 2013, Finch set a new record for tehighest individual score in a Twenty20 international, scoring 156 runs from 63 balls against England at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Finch's innings included 14 sixes and 11 fours. He was the first player to score 150 runs in a T20I innings. He was awarded the Men's T20I Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by Cricket Australia in 2014. Finch was selected as part of Australia's 2015 Cricket World Cup squad. In Australia's first group match against England he top scored with 135 runs, helping Australia to a 111 run win. Despite being the top rated T20I batsman, he was dropped for the first two matches of Australia's campaign in the 2016 ICC World T20 before being reinstated for the last two matches of the campaign. In January 2017, Finch was named as stand-in captain for the first ODI against New Zealand in Australia's tour of New Zealand after Matthew Wade was withdrew from the side with an injury. Before the second ODI, of that series Wade was ruled out of series due to a back injury and Finch continued to captain in the remaining matches. In April 2018, he was awarded a national contract by Cricket Australia for the 2018–19 season and in July scored 172 against Zimbabwe, a new record T20I individual score. He hit 10 sixes in the innings during a world record T20I opening stand of 223 runs with D'Arcy Short which ended in the final over of the innings. The partnership was the second highest for any wicket in a T20I. In September 2018, he was named in Australia's Test match squad for their series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, making his Test debut on 7 October. He had his baggy green cap presented to him by Allan Border before going on to score 62 and 49 runs in his two innings in the match. In April 2019, Finch was named the captain of Australia's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 16 July 2020, Finch was named in a 26-man preliminary squad of players to begin training ahead of a possible tour to England following the COVID-19 pandemic.
