'It hurts every day' - Aaron Finch reflects back on World Cup 2019 semi-final defeat against England

Australian Skipper Aaron Finch was named the Australian ODI player of the year at Cricket Australia’s annual Awards at Crown Palladium on Monday. He scored 1141 at an impressive average of 51.86 including four centuries in the timespan the votes were based on.

However, the right-handed opener said that the defeat in the ICC World Cup 2019 ‘hurts’ him till date. Australia started the World Cup well by rolling over Afghanistan. They ended the group league phase second in the table only behind India.

But a sudden dip in form meant the Aussies lost to a struggling South African team in the final group game followed by a moral dropping mugging in the hands of arch-rivals and eventual World Cup winners England. Finch and Co. lost the match by eight wickets with almost 18 overs remaining. While the captain had a first-ball dismissal, they were not helped by injuries to crucial players either.

“That (injury) didn’t help but, at the end of the day, that’s what made us a good side for 30 years now. The Australian cricket team has, in the one-day format, (always been that) you can always push each other in the nets and you have good hard net sessions but that (injury) is a byproduct of being competitive. It just happened it all compounded that day,” the 33-year-old said after receiving his award as quoted by THE AGE.

He continued on saying how bad that defeat felt– “It hurts every day. You think about it and it’s something you look back on and think what you could have done differently to change the result but you move on after a while.”

Aaron Finch and Co. will be eyeing T20 World Cup 2020

Finch believes that the team peaked too early in a long tournament and they lacked fuel coming towards the business end of the coveted tournament. He said, “That is something in a World Cup – I think you have to peak at the right time. Whether that’s 100 per cent or 90 per cent, you have to be tracking in the right direction at the end of the tournament.”

However, the Aussie team have a chance to reclaim a bit of lost glory by winning the upcoming T20 World Cup scheduled to happen on their own backyard. Keeping that in mind the Victoria born player emphasized on the fact that the team would be looking for a consistent set of players and are not keen on too much tinkering with the players.

They will travel to South Africa next to play three T20Is followed by the same number of ODIs as they gear up for the World Cup. The series will begin on 21^st February at the famous Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The Kangaroos will be uplifted by the return of star batsman Glenn Maxwell to the squad after his recent mental health concerns.

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