Only Steve Smith guaranteed a spot in the Australian team, says Aaron Finch
Aaron Finch, the aggressive opening batsman from Australia has warned his teammates that no one other than the skipper Steve Smith has cemented a spot in Australia’s One-Day international team in the wake of Glenn Maxwell’s shocking exclusion. Maxwell was a regular in Australia's ODI and T20 teams for the last few years but has been omitted from the five-match series against Sri Lanka.
It was a surprise exclusion from Australia's squad for the five-match series against Sri Lanka, which starts on Sunday (August 21) in Colombo. The talented all-rounder was dropped due to his poor performance but Finch said it signalled a resounding statement from the Australian selectors.
Also read: Glenn Maxwell believes selectors don't want to see him hit sixes
"Besides the skipper (Steve Smith), no one else is really guaranteed a spot in the side," Finch was quoted by Cricbuzz.
"You have to be performing all the time. You just have to keep getting the business done and if you don't, there's always someone breathing down your neck for your spot”
Finch also spoke about the competition in the Australian side and how youngsters are now performing well and looking to get into the Aussie side. He also took the name of Travis Head who went to England this year and got 175 (for Yorkshire) and played well in the last domestic season.
“There's always someone breathing down your neck," Finch alluded when speaking about the competition in the side.
Australia performed rather below expectations against Sri Lanka and the series loss was one of the worst the Aussie have had to deal with in a long time. The island nation whitewashed Australia and won the 3 match Test series but Finch is hoping that the ODI team will provide some reprieve.
"The guys are very disappointed with the Test series and how that went," he said. "So the fresh guys coming in for the one-dyers, it's our job to really pick up the energy and start at training.”
Also read: David Hussey believes Australia got it wrong with their squad selection for Sri Lankan tour
The 29-year-old batsman also said that team Australia is still very confident for the upcoming One-Day series.
"We haven't actually seen the (Test-squad) guys a hell of a lot," he added. "So this will be our first chance as full squad to get together. Understandably, the guys would have been disappointed but that's history."
Mitchell Starc is in a pretty decent form and Finch believes that Australia will rely on their pace battery during the ODI series. The Australian batsman has confidence in his team and is ready to produce some spectacular performances in the upcoming ODI series and hopefully lead his side to victory.