Australia's white-ball captain Aaron Finch has announced his retirement from ODIs. He will retire after the conclusion of the one-day series vs New Zealand on Sunday (September 11). He was Australia's 24th ODI captain and his replacement has yet not been named by Cricket Australia. The decision to quit captaincy from one of the white-ball formats came a month away from the T20 World Cup 2022, the trophy Aussies will defend this year in their backyard.
Finch smashed 17 ODI tons for Australia and is behind only Ricky Ponting (29), David Warner and Mark Waugh (both 18). He wanted to carry on as captain till the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. However, his continuous bad form led to giving up the format altogether. In last 7 innings, Finch has scored just 26 runs, to put things in perspective.
A true champion of the white-ball game.
Aaron Finch will retire from one-day cricket after tomorrow's third and final Dettol ODI vs New Zealand, with focus shifting to leading Australia at the #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/SG8uQuTVGc
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) September 9, 2022
"It has been a fantastic ride with some incredible memories," Finch was quoted as saying cricket.com.au.
"I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of some brilliant one-day sides. Equally, I have been blessed by all those I have played with and the many people behind the scenes.
"I thank all of those who have helped and supported my journey to this point."
Cricket Australia has accepted his decision to retire and congratulated him on an excellent carrer.
"On behalf of Australian Cricket, I would like to congratulate Aaron on his vast contribution as captain of the Australian men's ODI team and as a wonderful exponent of the 50-over format," Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said in a statement.
It would be interesting to see who takes up the job after Finch has left. Would it be Pat Cummins, who already leads the Test side or CA would want to zero on in on another candidate, who could tomorrow become captain all 2 white-ball formats for Australia.
