Aaron Finch, the leader of Australia’s limited-overs team, declared his retirement from one-day international cricket on Saturday. Sunday’s third one-day international between Australia and New Zealand in Cairns will be Finch’s final ODI contest for his country. The host has already secured an unbeatable 2-0 advantage in the three-match series.
After a recent subpar performance for Australia, Finch announced his retirement. Finch has only reached the 50-run threshold once (62 against Sri Lanka) in 13 ODIs since 2022 began, while also going scoreless five times. In his last seven ODI innings, he scored an average of just 26 runs. The 2015 ODI World Cup champion has played for Australia in 145 ODIs, amassing 5401 runs at an average of 39.13. Finch has scored 17 centuries in the format, placing him fourth among Australians, just behind Ricky Ponting (29), David Warner (18), and Mark Waugh (18).
Finch will still serve as captain of the T20I team, which will begin defending its T20 World Cup title in October at home. The 35-year-old played a crucial role as Australia’s T20I captain and guided his team to its maiden men’s T20 World Cup victory in the United Arab Emirates last year.
Finch made his One-Day International (ODI) debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against Sri Lanka in 2013 and was named the team’s permanent captain in 2018. He guided Australia to the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal when eventual champion England defeated it. Finch has led Australia in 54 one-day internationals, with the team posting a win percentage of 55.55 while winning 30 and losing 24 games.
