Finch wants spinner Agar to turn T20 ‘finisher’ for Australia with the bat
Australia captain Aaron Finch hopes spin bowler Ashton Agar can develop his skills with the bat to become a swashbuckling “finisher” ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.
Left-arm spinner Agar was named at seven in the batting order for last Sunday’s series opener against Sri Lanka but never got the chance to pad up as Australia’s top order dominated in the 134-run victory.
While Agar, who averages 13.66 with the bat from 16 T20Is, is some way short of all-rounder status, Finch said Agar, 26, was working hard to give the team more flexibility. “His batting’s still developing,” Finch said.
“Something that he’s been working on is becoming that real finisher towards the back end of an innings in T20 and in one-day games.
“So if he can keep developing that, it’ll give you a lot of options to play that second spinner or go with four quicks, or if there’s another all-rounder that comes in.”
Agar was not required to showcase his skills with the bat as hard-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, promoted up the order ahead of Steve Smith, destroyed the Sri Lankan attack with 62 off 28 balls after David Warner (100 not out) and Finch (64) set up a 122-run opening partnership.
The promoted Maxwell’s knock denied former captain Smith a chance to bat in his first full international on home soil since serving a 12-month ball-tampering ban.
Finch said he wanted his batsmen to be ready to play anywhere in the order according to match situations, to make the team more competitive when they host the T20 World Cup next October.
“I think at all times, you’ll see four or five guys in the sheds with their pads on,” Finch said.
“To be really flexible as a middle order, prepared to go in at any stage, is important to catch teams off guard. If you’ve got left and right-hand combinations, there’s a few options there, so it’s a nicely balanced side at the moment.”
With the T20 World Cup the only major piece of silverware missing in Australia’s bursting trophy cabinet, Cricket Australia have scheduled a glut of T20 matches to help the world’s fifth-ranked team build.
“It’s a really great time to be playing T20 cricket for Australia because you’re getting enough game time to start to develop that squad mentality,” Finch said.
“Now we’ve got a specific date in mind, which is the start of the World Cup, to really build that 12-month foundation of a really solid T20 side that can beat the best and sustain that for a long period of time.”
Australia will look to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka at the Gabba today.