Finch opens to Australia captaincy

Monitoring Desk

SYDNEY: Aaron Finch is game to captain Australia once again, should the selectors come calling. With the suspensions of David Warner and Steven Smith, the team not only has to find new personnel but also appoint new leaders. Tim Paine – barely into a comeback into international cricket – became Australia’s 46th Test captain last month and now with an tour of England in June, focus shifts towards ODI cricket and planning for the 2019 World Cup. “I’d definitely put my hand up for it, but I haven’t thought about it to be honest,” Finch, who is currently playing for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, told the Cricket Australia website. “It’s obviously a really difficult time and some changes are going to be made in the next couple of months with the England ODIs and the Dubai Tests [against Pakistan later this year]. If the opportunity came up, I’d love to take it but it’s not something that I’ve thought about. “When I first started out I was little bit, just throw caution to the wind. You’d have your plans and sometimes they go out the window and you just have a gut feel. It’s great when it goes well [but] in time I’ve probably learnt to be a bit calmer out on the field, take a bit more of the planning that you have pre-game.” Finch had been appointed Australia’s full-time T20 captain in 2014, but after six matches on the job, and with the 2016 World T20 on the horizon, Cricket Australia decided to have one captain for all three formats and gave the reins to Smith.