Aaron Finch backs Jason Roy for Ashes call-up

BIRMINGHAM: It is rare to see Australia get beaten in any game, let alone the knockout match of a World Cup, like they were on Thursday at Edgbaston. Soon after his team was blasted out of the park by England in the second semifinal of the World Cup, Australia captain Aaron Finch admitted his team was completely outclassed by the hosts, who will now play New Zealand in the final at Lord’s.
Finch won the toss and decided to bat first, but Australia were soon reduced to 14 for three. The Kangaroos depend heavily on the captain and their talismanic batsman David Warner for laying the foundation to post a big score, but Finch was out for a first ball duck and Warner soon followed for 9.
“Those first ten overs changed the game, the damage was done with the ball. You can try to analyse the game as much as you want but we were totally outplayed,” confessed Finch.
Australia struggled against the swing and pace of Chris Woakes, who took three for 20, and Jofra Archer, who took two for 32. Finch had high praise for both of them.
“Woakes is a world-class bowler and Archer is just getting better and better the more international cricket he plays. It was tough conditions and they just bowled really well,” he said.
He also admitted it was hard to stop England opener Jason Roy, who smashed a brutal 85 on Thursday, once he got going.
“Steve (Smith) and Alex (Carey) dragged us back into the game but we knew they’d come out aggressive with the bat and they just got on top of us straight away,” he added.
“When Jason is playing like that he can be so damaging to the opposition.”
Roy’s blazing form in the World Cup has triggered a debate about whether the explosive opener should be a part of the England team for the Ashes, which begins from August 1 with the first Test scheduled in Edgbaston.
Having played with Roy at Surrey, Finch agreed with those who feel England would be better off giving him a Test call-up. “He definitely goes hard having played with him for a few years now for Surrey. He’s a player that when he’s on, he can be so damaging to an opposition and in such quick time as well,” said Finch.
“I’m not sure what the wickets are going to be like in the Ashes series. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out. But he’s got some really good hundreds in county cricket, probably more so in the middle-order.”
Expressing his disappointment over Australia’s quest for a sixth World Cup trophy ending in such a ruthless manner, Finch said the five-time champions would now start planning for the next edition in earnest right away.
“I think we’ve made lots of progress as a team in the last 12 months and I’m proud of how far they’ve come. However, we came here to win and I’m just disappointed with how it ended, putting up probably our worst performance of the entire tournament in the semifinal,” said Finch.
“After you finish a World Cup you’ve always got one eye on the next one. We’ll sit down and start planning and talking and thinking about how we can improve in the next four years to go two steps further,” he said.
The 32-year-old is now expecting to see an intriguing title clash on Sunday. “It’ll be a hell of a game between two teams that love to fight and scrap. New Zealand are never out of the contention and England play a high-energy and high-risk game,” said Finch.