White backs Finch to open
Mon, 18 January 2010
Aaron Finch appears set to retain the opener's role for the Bushrangers in Tuesday night's KFC Twenty20 Big Bash preliminary final against Queensland at the Gabba coming off his dashing half-century against Tasmania at the MCG last Friday. Filling-in for the injured Matthew Wade, Finch slammed 58 from 39 balls-faced in a record stand of 147 with Brad Hodge which paved the way for Victoria's comfortable nine-wicket victory. Wade's return from an ankle strain and the availability of Black Caps import Ross Taylor whose 58 against the Bulls in the opening match of this competition back in December set up a narrow Bushrangers win, will force the Vics to recast their batting line-up. But, according to skipper Cameron White, Finch is virtually locked-in to open. "'Finchy' was the one that missed the first game when Ross played so it would be hard to leave him out after how well he's played in this series," said White at Melbourne airport on Monday morning. "The left-right combination (Wade-Hodge) against (Bulls in-form paceman Nathan) Rimmington might be something we'll have to look at, but I would assume that Aaron would stay at the top of the order, yes." Bushrangers coach Greg Shipperd has flagged that a bowler may need to make way to accommodate Taylor, but White would prefer to get the lie of the land at the Gabba before deciding one way or the other. "We'll have a look at the conditions first," said White. "With Ross coming in it does strengthen our batting and obviously with a couple of the younger batters in a fair bit of form at the moment it would be tough to drop them." "We'll see what happens with the mix of the team and depending on the wicket and the opposition we'll weigh it up when we get there." White said it will count in the Bushrangers' favour that they defeated Queensland at the Gabba in this corresponding match last season to qualify for the Big Bash final and a place in the 2009 Twenty20 Champions League in India. He said the team would need to plan effectively for Queensland skipper Chris Simpson who's been in dashing form with the bat, and how best to counter Rimmington and the Bulls' star import, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori with the ball. "Queensland have been a very good one-day side over the past couple of years and over the past couple of games in the twenty20 they've probably got their structure and the way they want to play pretty right," White said. "They're obviously dangerous with a good mix of options - they're just a good team and they'll be hard to beat." Paceman Peter Siddle, who's in the process of helping the Australian Test team to complete a series sweep in Hobart, will join the Vics in Brisbane on Tuesday while Taylor is expected to fly directly to Queensland from New Zealand.
Angus Morgan, Sportal
