He earned plaudits from Australian cricket captain Steve Smith, but Melbourne Renegades skipper Aaron Finch has delivered a brutally critical assessment of his BBL half century against the Sydney Sixers.
Dropped from the Australian one-day team last weekend, noted boundary hitter Finch tallied just three fours and a six in his 57 at the SCG on Monday night,
Ultimately his match-high knock wasn't enough to win the game as the Sixers reached their target of 171 with three balls left..
A guest TV commentator on Network Ten, Smith said he loved the way Finch had gone about his job.
"It's nice to see him play one of these kind of innings where he's just not going hammer and tongs the whole time," Smith said.
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"He's been able to work the ball around nicely and hit the ball into gaps."
However, Finch revealed it was a lack of timing rather than a change of mindset that was responsible for his unusually low boundary count.
"I just couldn't hit the middle of the bat to be honest," Finch said.
"A massive side, one side here, that you had to hit into the gaps and run hard.
"I just couldn't get any rhythm with my batting, I couldn't get any flow."
The loss left Renegades in a gaggle of mid-table teams with a 2-2 record behind the Heat, Sixers and Scorchers.
Finch had no doubt the Renegades next assignment on Saturday at home to Hobart was a must-win game.
"Absolutely," Finch said.
'With how tight it is, you might get in with four wins and a high net run rate, but you need five wins to be competitive."
Finch briefly stepped in as wicketkeeper on Monday and displayed some tidy glovework when regular custodian Peter Nevill was off the ground, after an outfield throw crashed into the peak of his cap and sent it flying..
"I used to do it as a kid, keeping is exciting when you only have a little period to do it," Finch said.
"I knew Nev would be back out there. I've done it a couple of times in Shield games when I've had to do it for a session or two sessions and thats not great fun."
