Aaron Finch's sad admission about cricket career after difficult BBL season
The Australian white-ball great has announced that this season will most likely be his last in the BBL.
Aaron Finch has revealed this Big Bash League (BBL) campaign will probably be the last season of cricket he plays as he watched on from the sidelines as the Melbourne Renegades won their first game of the BBL season. Australia's white-ball champion retired from international cricket at the beginning of 2023 and has struggled to make an impact in the BBL this year.
Renegades head coach David Saker revealed during the match against the Adelaide Strikers that the 37-year-old had approached him about how he was struggling to adjust to the speed of the game as he continues to make a comeback from knee surgery. Saker said Finch was finding it hard to recapture form and was the first to admit that at the current time, he doesn't deserve a place in the side as he was dropped from Friday night's game due to "inconsistent form".
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Finch looked a dejected figure as he watched on from the sidelines as rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk and veteran Shaun Marsh chased the Strikers’ 6-177 in the penultimate over with four wickets in hand. When asked by Channel 7's Jason Richardson if this BBL season could be his last, Finch replied, "Most likely yes, I would say very likely yes".
In this season's BBL Finch has registered scores of 2, 31 and 33 but most notably has been struggling to bring his strike rate up, sitting around a run a ball, well below his career strike rate of 142.53. Finch has been instrumental for the Melbourne Renegades over the years, most notably leading them to a maiden BBL title in a famous final with rivals the Stars in 2019.
Nic Maddinson omission pays dividends for Melbourne Renegades
The Renegades' brave call to drop captain Nic Maddinson paid dividends on Friday night as they registered their first win of the BBL season. The side made the difficult decision to leave out the out-of-form captain against the Strikers as Maddinson had only scored 51 runs from his past nine BBL innings.
Fraser-McGurk starred with the bat with 70 off 37 balls, while the experienced hands of Shaun Marsh chipped in for a classy 54. In a statement released before the game, Saker said the club felt that they had to make a "tough call" on Maddinson. "Evidently his form hasn’t been up to a standard we expect and unfortunately we’ve had to make the tough call," Saker said.
Chris Lynn breaks BBL record
After starting the match on 196 maximums, Chris Lynn brought up the 200 sixes mark with an impressive 56 off 34. The knock meant he became the first BBL player to reach 3500 runs and moved some 82 sixes ahead of the next most prolific maximum hitter, Finch.
He also becomes just the fifth Aussie to surpass 400 sixes in T20s. Lynn joined Shane Watson (467), Glenn Maxwell (458), Finch (452) and David Warner (421) in terms of sixes in T20s by Aussie players. However, he is miles off first in the world which is firmly held by former West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who has hit a whopping 1,056 maximums.
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