Finch ton fires Aussies to victory

The list of Australian top-order batsmen who have feasted on England’s hapless bowlers this summer has now grown to include nuggetty Victorian opener Aaron Finch.

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Finch carved himself a slice of history tonight when he became the first home-town batsman to score a one-day international century at the MCG as he starred in Australia’s ruthlessly efficient chase of 270 to comfortably win the opening match of the five-game Carlton Mid ODI Series.

The 27-year-old, who earned a reputation as an all-out attack weapon the Twenty20 format, rode his luck and a wave of local sentiment to score the second hundred of his 17-match ODI career and his first in Australia.

He was dismissed for 121, his second-highest ODI score following the 148 he made against Scotland last September, caught at deep third man when Australia had the game in their keeping with 33 runs required from more than 10 overs.

The opener said he was unaware of the exalted place he had earned in Victorian sporting folklore until after the match, and expressed surprise that local legend Dean Jones – who was watching Finch’s innings from a radio commentary box – had not achieved that milestone during his celebrated career.

“I thought Deano (Jones) definitely would have done that before me but he must have missed out a few times,” Finch said after the match.

“But it’s important to start a series well as a batsman, it gives you a lot of confidence.

“Then you can play on the back of that a bit and really try to turn it into an outstanding series personally and for the team, and cement your spot.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of one-day cricket before the 2015 World Cup and there’s a lot of players looking to shore up a place.”

In the end, Australia reached the total that initially appeared challenging but was incrementally dwarfed by England’s poor bowling, catching and fielding, with six wickets and 26 balls to spare as Michael Clarke (43), George Bailey ( 17no) and Glenn Maxwell (8no) guided their team home.

Powerfully built with a low centre of gravity and enormous forearms – rather like a right-handed Rod Marsh – Finch combined with David Warner to anchor Australia’s chase with an opening partnership of 163, a record for Australia in one-day internationals against England.

It smashed the previous mark of 118 set by Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden at the SCG in 2002-03.

Even though he should have been caught at mid-on having made eight, and having survived several close calls including an lbw review that went narrowly in his favour when on 24, Finch’s innings was as controlled as it was timely given the national selectors – including Marsh – will already be turning their minds to Australia’s squad for next year’s World Cup.

He batted for more than three hours and struck 12 boundaries in his 128-ball innings although, in contrast to his fence-clearing reputation, did not land a blow beyond the boundary rope.

His innings also placed an emphatic exclamation point at the end of suggestions that England’s wretched results during the Ashes would be turned around with a change of formats and a number of fresh faces.

Indeed, the low point of a tour that has seen new depths plumbed on a weekly basis might well have arrived with a contentious umpiring decision early in Australia’s innings.

Having opted to bat first on a slowish pitch, England battled through some disciplined Australian bowling to post 7-269 from their 50 overs – a total that history reckoned should prove tough for the locals to overhaul even if contemporary form trends might have suggested otherwise.

Of the 27 teams set targets in excess of 250 batting second in one-day internationals at the MCG, only six had emerged victorious. But no sooner were the tourists’ hopes raised than standards inevitably slipped.

In his first England outing on Australian turf, Barbados-born fast bowler Chris Jordan was deprived a crucial wicket when Gary Ballance – England’s top scorer with 79 – let a miscued on-drive from Finch burst through his hands at mid-on when the opener was on eight.

From that moment, England dropped pretty much everything that came their way, as well as their heads as yet another defeat loomed.

A scorching drive from Warner (on nine) almost stuck in Jordan’s outstretched left hand as he instinctively reached for a return catch, only for it to bobble free.

Runs were gifted through needless shying at the stumps, through an infectious inability to stop and gather the ball in the infield and – most embarrassingly – through ineptitudes such as Tim Bresnan’s attempt at a sliding save near the third man rope in which he somehow failed to use any part of his prostrate body to impede the ball’s progress.

But the ultimate indignity came in the 14^th over, with Australia riding their snowballing luck to reach 81 without loss, when England claimed Warner’s wicket only to have their moment of celebration cut short by off-field interference.

Even though Warner (on 22) walked in the belief he had cut his attempted glide off Ben Stokes too fine and it had nestled low but safely in the gloves of keeper Jos Buttler, the on-field officials referred the dismissal to a higher power.

After countless views of slow-motion footage that, rather like Abraham Zapruder’s home video raised more questions with each subsequent screening, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena deemed the ball had not carried, the catch was illegitimate and the decision – that was thought irrelevant because Warner had walked – was overruled.

At which point the Australian walked again, only in the opposite direction back to the crease.

Cook was clearly of the view that the Warner catch was legitimate and risked the ire of match officials by saying so at his post-match media conference.

“It might be my biased English eyes but I thought it was a clear catch,” Cook said.

“I thought it was a wrong decision but you have to respect the umpire’s decision or you can be in trouble.

“But I didn’t see it hit the ground.”

Learned cricket folk in television and radio commentary boxes expressed disbelief at the system’s inadequacies or sympathy for the plight of umpires, largely depending on which patriotic lens they had viewed proceedings through.

But like any one of the many among the crowd who accepted the ‘dress up party’ invitation and came clad as super heroes, England’s faltering bravado that had been built on a solid batting effort dissipated from that moment when it was confirmed via video that their new-found superhero powers were illusory.

They have five days to find a way to win before the second match of the series in Brisbane – where a rested and ready Mitchell Johnson awaits.