‘One of those nights’ - Aaron Finch on Australia’s crushing defeat

Australia skipper Aaron Finch described his side’s dismal showing against England on Saturday as ‘one of those nights’ where problems never stopped compounding, but insisted that the Kangaroos will come back recharged and refreshed in their next encounter against Bangladesh on Thursday, November 4.

Australia were put into bat after losing the toss, and a stunning new-ball burst from the England seamers saw the team get reduced to 21-4 inside 7 overs. A valiant effort from skipper Finch and the lower-order saw the Kangaroos crawl to 125, but the target was demolished by England, who knocked down the target inside 12 overs.

“After losing few wickets in the powerplay, we had to hang in there and get to a total we thought would be defendable. They bowled well and put us on the back foot early. You had to bowl them out with that kind of total, but Jos Buttler played a hell of an innings and put the pressure on us,” Finch said on Saturday.

“It's just one of those nights where we got off to a poor start and it kept compounding unfortunately. We've got a couple of days to recharge now, give the guys some much-needed rest and take on Bangladesh next.”

It was a third straight win for England, and the Three Lions’ skipper Eoin Morgan expressed that he was pleased with the way his side adapted to the conditions. England are top of Group 1 with six points and a 3.948 NRR, and Morgan said that he was impressed with how clinical his side was, with both bat and ball.

“Obviously we got off to a good start in the first two games of the tournament and challenge first is always adapting to the conditions away from home and we did that really in the first two games and then again today, the big test against a really strong Australian side,” Morgan said.

“We sort of held up pretty well right from the beginning, holding our nerve and creating opportunities with the ball and then continuing to be relentless with the lengths we want to bowl. We are in good form with the bat. Jason last game and Jos today.”

Having played their first 3 matches across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, England will now shift base to Sharjah, where they will be playing their final two group games against Sri Lanka and South Africa respectively. Morgan said that his side are looking forward to the challenge of adjusting to the slow and low wickets of Sharjah.

“We go to Sharjah from here and again another challenge there and we are really looking forward to it.”