Australia’s buoyant crew ‘love working under Finchy’

• The captain struck 100 at Lord’s as Australia beat England by 64 runs on Tuesday
• The defending champions are assured of a place in the semi-finals.

To get a feel for the esteem in which Australia’s captain Aaron Finch is currently held by his buoyant team and for the esprit de corps that he’s helped engender among them, you only have to listen to the effusive tribute of their bright young wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey.

“I think his performances leading from the front have been amazing and then with his decisions out in the field, he’s got a group of guys who really trust him. We love working under Finchy,” enthused Carey, after the captain’s hundred laid the foundations for the triumph over England that sealed Australia’s semi-final place in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2019 on Tuesday.

“Performance is pretty good leadership - and, firstly, he’s performing from the front and it’s great to see him have some real success. He’s worked really hard on his game and now he’s delivering on the biggest stage.”

He certainly is. Regularly. Those early-year struggles, when Finch was down on confidence and heart and wondered if he’d even make the World Cup squad he was earmarked to captain, could not have felt more distant as his Lord’s hundred, the seventh he’s taken off England in an ODI, told of a man scaling a new peak in his game.

For since his rejuvenating series against Pakistan in March, Finch has now scored 947 runs at an average of 86.09 with four hundreds, backing up Carey’s observations about a man ‘leading from the front.’

What’s more, the skipper’s glut of runs at the tournament - 496 - have come alongside fellow opener David Warner’s 500 as the two most prolific scorers in this year’s competition have been averaging 91 for their first-wicket stands.

It’s these wonderfully reliable platforms that the pair have given Australia throughout the tournament that makes Carey believe it’s been the key to the champions’ fine defence of their title.

“The guys at the top of the order are playing fantastically and giving us the opportunity to have some wickets in the shed to set us up and hopefully finish off an innings well,” said the South Australian.

“Although it would have been nice to finish off the innings better and not lose those quick wickets (against England), the quality that Warner and Finch are delivering for us is allowing us just to take the innings that bit deeper, allowing Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith to go in and be able to occupy.”

Then, he noted, the destructive likes of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis also had more licence to thrill. Not to mention Carey himself, who’s proved a pretty handy ‘finisher’ at the World Cup, having racked up 173 runs at an average of 57.66 and a healthy strike rate of 116.10. On Tuesday, his unbeaten 38 from 27 balls was another impressive cameo.

“I’m loving batting at the moment, trying to keep it really simple, and then just having the opportunity to bat the last 10 overs when the field’s out,” said the 27-year-old.

“I think we’ve done that pretty well throughout, even against Bangladesh when there was talk that maybe we were a bit slow up the front. If you’ve got wickets in the shed, you can do real damage. We trust the guys to get through the first 10 overs with as minimal damage as possible and then hopefully we back-end it with Maxi, who can do some damage with 15 overs to go, and Stoini as well. But it’s working at the moment.”

The other key to the champions now beginning to look ominously impressive? “I think we’ve got some really experienced players, guys who are standing up in big moments,” said Carey.

On Tuesday, it was not just Finch but also Mitchell Starc, with his four wickets, who fitted that particular bill. Australia will take some stopping as their form improves by the match.