‘Good luck to all the girls’ – Aaron Finch backs Australia to win WT20 final

Aaron Finch was effusive in his praise of the way the women’s team have gone about the business, not just at the tournament in the Caribbean, but on the whole.

Meg Lanning’s side saw off the Windies in the semi-final by a massive margin of 71 runs, and will renew an old rivalry against England, who comprehensively beat India in the other semi-final.

Australia, pre-tournament favourites, have fired on all cylinders in every match at the tournament, apart from the final group game against India, by which time they had already secured qualification to the semi-finals.

“It's very exciting,” Finch said. “Meg and Matt (Matthew Mott, the coach) have led that side really well, and the girls have played some great cricket.

"To get such a convincing win against a really dominant Windies side was really important going into that final against England.”

Finch knows all about the extra edge in encounters between Australia and England, and said that would be the case this time as well. “They’ve obviously played a lot against each other – there’s been a great rivalry like in the men’s game,” he said. “It’ll be an amazing game, and good luck to all the girls.”

He added that all of Australia will be proud of what the women’s side have achieved, even if they don’t win the final. “It’s been great (the way they’ve represented Australia),” he said. “The style that they’ve gone about it, everyone in Australia should be pretty excited of what they’ve achieved.

“Regardless of the result tomorrow – it’ll be great if they can win, and we’ve full confidence they can do that – but they’ve been at the top of the game in all formats for such a long time now. It’s a real credit to all the girls and the coaches.”