World Cup loss to England is water under the bridge, feels Finch

Southampton, Sep 4 (IANS) Australia’s limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch has said the team has no scars after last year’s World Cup semi-final defeat to England ahead of the white-ball fixtures between the two teams.

Eoin Morgan’s side had defeated Australia by eight wickets at Edgbaston en route to becoming world champions on home turf in 2019.

Australia and England are now slated to contest in three-match T20I series, the first of which will be played on Friday at the Ageas Bowl.

“Looking back to that game, we didn’t get enough runs. We were three down early with the bat and always chasing our tail,” Finch was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

“When you have a quality side, well the best in the world, chasing a small total and with how aggressive they are, you need early wickets and they blew us out of the water.

“It was a tough day but it is a different format and we are not holding any scars over that, I can guarantee that in T20 cricket.”

Finch added: “I think the long play is honestly really important and something we have been sitting down and planning over the last few months.

“Probably what the Covid-19 break did for Australian cricket was give us the chance to sit back and look at everything as a whole and dissect that.

“When you move from series to series, you almost focus on the results a lot more so to take the results out and sit back and assess everything leading up to the 2023 World Cup and work back from that date gives us a really clear plan on the direction we want the one-day team to go.

“I think we have done the planning really well in T20s over the last couple of years, obviously with that meant to have gone ahead around this time, but the 50-over one we feel we have a clear direction both with personnel and strategy.”

–IANS

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