Australia‘s Twenty20 captain Aaron Finch is confident there will be no hangover from the one-day international series whitewash defeat against England.
The tourists suffered a historic 5-0 loss in the ODI series and now face England in a one-off T20 fixture at Edgbaston.
Finch acknowledges collective confidence was dented by the hammering – but he is encouraged by an influx of players with “no baggage” ahead of Wednesday’s game.
“We had a debrief and … we’ve put a bit of that stuff to bed,” Finch said.
“As a T20 team not a lot needs to be said – we have new faces to bring fresh energy, guys that have no baggage. It’s a great opportunity to get out there and strut our stuff in a format we have had success in.”
Five-time World Cup-winners Australia have hit a 34-year low at number six in the ODI rankings – which are topped by England – but in T20s they are second and the hosts fifth.
Finch added: “In the one-day format the confidence was definitely affected. England put us on the back foot from the word go, and we weren’t able to catch up.
“But we’ve had success in this format, from seventh in the world to second – which is a great achievement – and (we’ve) done it with mixed-and-matched teams. We’re getting more settled … I don’t think there will be anything to worry about in this format.”
Finch is Tim Paine’s ODI vice-captain but may be the medium-term tip to take over, especially if his Twenty20 exploits continue to go well.
He discounts the suggestion that this match, and scheduled tri-series coming up against Zimbabwe and world number one Pakistan, may be an audition for the ODI role.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “If the opportunity came up it would be an honour. But it’s not something I have thought about.
“Tim is the captain right now and did a great job throughout the (ODI) series. It was disappointing we didn’t back up his leadership with our performances – we let ourselves slip.”
