Finch blasts 90-ball century in dramatic start to Surrey career
Aaron Finch marked his Surrey debut by hitting his first ball for six and going on to complete a brilliant 90-ball hundred on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire.
The powerful 29-year-old Australian slog-swept former New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel over midwicket and out of the compact Woodbridge Road ground, and later drove leg-spinner Josh Poysden high over long off for another maximum as he led Surrey’s progress to 273 all out.
Patel got Finch in the end, smartly held at slip by Rikki Clarke, but by then he had also struck 16 fours and reached 110 from 98 balls.
Coincidently, one of Finch’s previous four first-class hundreds was another innings of 110 against Warwickshire, for Yorkshire at Edgbaston in 2014.
Finch will play all formats in a fiveweek stint as overseas player at Surrey while Kumar Sangakkara takes part in the Caribbean Premier League and he certainly made a big initial impression. One straight-driven four off Boyd Rankin was a high-class stroke which belied Finch’s reputation as a limitedovers specialist.
Left-arm seamer Keith Barker struck an early blow for Warwickshire, having Arun Harinath caught by a tumbling Tim Ambrose for 15, but Burns was then joined by Zafar Ansari in a second-wicket stand of 44.
Burns fell for 45, pushing out at Patel, left-hander Burns was leg-before and Ansari also failed to add to his interval score when Barker trapped him lbw for 11.
There was no play between 2.20pm and 4pm following a heavy downpour but Finch was soon into his stride again as he cover-drove and cut Barker for boundaries.
Steven Davies nicked Clarke to Ambrose on 13 and Sam Curran departed for 15 when Rankin, bowling with pace, made one lift to have the teenager caught at third slip.
Ben Foakes began fluently and when he and Finch guided the hosts to 243 for five it seemed the day would be Surrey’s. Finch had dominated a sixthwicket stand of 63 in 10 overs with Foakes, but after his dismissal the innings fell away with Patel bowling Tom Curran for one and then having Gareth Batty caught at short point for four.
Foakes, jumping to avoid Andrew Umeed’s direct hit, failed to ground his bat and was run out for 23 before last man Mark Footitt, returning from a two-month side injury absence, was stumped off Patel for 16 soon after clubbing a big six over long-on.
Patel finished with five for 62 after helping to polish off the Surrey tail.
In six overs Warwickshire reached 12 without loss with Varun Chopra on seven and Umeed on three.