ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 22, 2021

Aaron Finch

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Australia

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. I was just wondering if you'd settled on a team for tomorrow night.

AARON FINCH: Yeah, we have, mate. I'm not going to release it, though. You'll see it at 1:30 tomorrow at the toss.

Q. Is there anything you can sort of say about the balance that you've decided on. Sort of looking at maybe four specialists will bowl or five?

AARON FINCH: We're going with seven specialist batters, four specialist bowlers, plus the all-rounders. We've got a lot of confidence in the depth of our squad. We've got a lot of confidence in Maxwell, Stoinis, and Marsh to be able to bowl in four overs as well just to -- just as a chop out.

We think that on these wickets in these conditions, that they can do a really good job and be an attacking option as much as anything.

Q. Just a thought on where you guys are in terms of your T20 cricket and your preparation going into this World Cup as opposed to ones previous. Do you think Australia maybe have put more into this World Cup than they had in the ones eight, ten years ago?

AARON FINCH: I think it's all been pretty similar, to be honest with you. We obviously haven't played a huge amount of cricket as a group in this 15-man squad together over the last probably 18 months. So it's exciting to have everyone together.

I think guys have been at different stages of their preparation for the tournament, whether it's RPL. Some guys are coming off injuries. Some guys have been coming off preseasons back at home. I think it's come together quite nicely.

To have two really good hit outs against New Zealand and India, I think, was crucial for our preparation as well to be able to hit the ground running once we got here and sort of brush up on our skills and just play together. It's been really nice.

Q. Is it frustrating in some sense the last 15 months have been as they are? Obviously, everyone is frustrated in the world. But given the amount of focus you guys had put into the home World Cup in 2020, it felt like that was the most you'd ever put into a World Cup, or a T20 World Cup at least, I think.

AARON FINCH: Yeah, plans have sort of gone out the window recently, but that's part and parcel with what's happened worldwide. We're fully understanding of that. To be able to continue to put on a great show in world cricket, to go ahead in a pandemic, we're very grateful for that. We hope that everyone appreciates that we're able to put on a really good show worldwide.

Whether it's been for a bilateral series or coming here for a World Cup, I think it's been outstanding.

Q. Given that David Warner obviously hasn't spent a lot of time at the crease recently and he looked like he was trying to be a bit more circumspect the other night, do you have any advice for him, or do you hope that he might just try and have a look for a couple of overs to try and get a bit settled before he goes? Or do you just expect guys to play on instinct and go on the feel of their eye?

AARON FINCH: I'm backing Dave's ability. I'm backing his judgment. I think, if you look at his World Cup history, he's just bloody good. Would he have liked more runs? Absolutely. Everyone would like more runs all the time.

He's one of the greatest players that Australia has ever produced, and I've got no doubts that come Game 1 he'll be up and firing and ready to go.

Q. And what about yourself? Obviously, injuries got in the way, and that sort of hindered your preparation. You looked like you're healing okay and then got sort of pinged in front. How are you feeling?

AARON FINCH: I'm feeling really good. The knee is feeling great. It's feeling a bit better than what I thought it would at this stage, to be honest. To be able to play those first two warmup games against New Zealand and India was crucial, I think. To get a few in the middle was nice.

I think everyone's in a pretty good space to be honest. The way the group's come together, the feeling around the place has been brilliant. We're really excited to kick it off tomorrow.

Q. Just wondering what you're expecting from the surface tomorrow in Abu Dhabi?

AARON FINCH: We haven't actually seen it yet. We've been training on the outside ground. So that's not something we've seen. We're training straight after this. So we'll get out there and have a look at that surface. We expect it to play pretty good. It always does here.

I know they're different wickets to what the RPL played on, playing a day game. It should be on probably the touch slow side, but that's to be expected. It's a great surface. The outfield here is great. It's a beautiful place to play actually.

Q. Just firing off of that, particularly in day games, how important is it to make the most of the powerplay with the bat?

AARON FINCH: I think, like I said, even though it's different surfaces to what the RPL used, we saw the impact that it had. The teams that won the powerplay, that went a long way to winning the game as the wickets deteriorated.

I think the wickets first off here in the tournament will start off a little bit better and probably be a little more consistent throughout that 40 overs. As it gets a bit more traffic and the tournament gets a bit deeper, that might slow up and spin a little bit more.

Yeah, the powerplay is going to be crucial, no doubt, for both teams.

Q. Aaron, just on that, can you go into this match, just seeing the conditions and how they're playing, with a total in mind? Say, let's look for 160 rather than start off looking for 200, or do you actually just gauge what you get once you get in there?

AARON FINCH: I think it's all about summing up the conditions as quick as you can. The luxury we've got is we've got a lot of experience in our team. We've got a lot of guys who have played a lot of T20 cricket now in these conditions, so I think to be able to communicate that back to the dugout as quick as we can and sum up the conditions.

That goes with the ball as well. When Stark and Hazlewood and Cummins and Kane Richardson and the spinners, they're all very good at summing up the conditions straight away and being able to communicate that around pretty quick.

So you never go in with a total in mind. You let the surface dictate how you think that's going to play.

Q. Does a player then, like a batter like Steve Smith, his role get underrated in these conditions? Someone who can bat like 15, 16 overs and set up something for you?

AARON FINCH: I think any time Steve Smith bats, it's great to watch. He's someone who's so versatile. He's adaptable to all conditions, all scenarios in a game. We've seen him be someone who's been a really high strike rate, or we've seen him be able to sort of resurrect an innings and get a team to a really good total. He's a world class player. So he's really important to the makeup of our team.

Q. I just wanted to ask you actually about the day and night factor. There was a bit of talk about the state of the ball and conditions being a bit skewed with the dew although it does seem the results between batting first and batting second have equalized a bit. In general, are you guys sort of like privately, if I can state it like that, happy that you guys are playing a day game, such a big opening game in day conditions, sort of taking the dew factor and the toss out?

AARON FINCH: Four of our five games are day games. I think the only night game we've got is our third game against England. Both of our warmup games -- sorry. Our first practice game was a night game, and there was quite a bit of dew in that against New Zealand, come down quite heavy towards the back end of the innings. It will play a factor in the tournament, no doubt.

I think, as the conditions cool down slightly in the coming month or so, it will probably become heavier and heavier dew. Then the toss does become really important.

What we're seeing in T20 cricket is even when there is dew, the powerplay is so important. Regardless of how dewy it does get, if you can control that part of the game, it just goes a huge, huge distance to winning the match. So at some point it will play a big part.

I think most guys these days have played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent where the dew is a lot more of an issue than it is in Australia or England, South Africa, but it's just a part of the game, and there's not much we can do about it.