How Finch went from anger to ecstasy
AARON Finch smashed a chair, twice, when he walked from Docklands Stadium after being run out by Tasmanian Jackson Bird’s foot. That’s right, run out by a bowler’s foot, at the non-striker’s end, just after he had started striping the ball like Finch can.
The Melbourne Renegades skipper has had an unforgettable summer, but not just in the good sense. He played a Test at the MCG, but was dropped from the team next match. He struggled in coloured-clothing, as captain, and was, for some reason, being doubted as a national player.
Plenty didn’t realise, or remember, that Finch made 500 runs more than any other Australian player in 2018, carrying the can for an underperforming one-day team, and knocking out a Twenty20 worldrecord score to boot.
But present of mind was his limited Test output, then a run of low scores in the one-day team too.
Given the opportunity to propel his Renegades, where he has been captain for almost as long as the team has existed, Finch couldn’t get a go at it.
He faced five balls in the first four overs.
But the skipper smashed the first ball of the fifth over for four. He caned another in the next over. He was going.
Then Bird stuck out his foot as Cameron White smashed a straight drive and, as the zing bails went red, with Finch short of his ground, red mist descended on the captain.
He spat out his chewing gum as he walked off, before the third umpire had even given him out. Finch whacked the plastic chair in the players’ race once with his bat, then when he caught up with it, he whacked it again.
It was an inglorious end to a home summer which didn’t quite go his way.
When the Melbourne Stars were 0-93, and their victory look almost certain, well, Finch’s despair was palpable. But cricket’s a funny game. Eight overs later We Are The Champions was blaring around the ground and Finch was being jumped on by his delirious teammates celebrating a miraculous win.