Tim David, the middle-order “finisher,” and captain Finch are questionable for Adelaide, where Australia’s Super 12s group campaign comes to an end. They both sustained hamstring injuries in this week’s victory over Ireland.
“To play, I’m extremely hopeful. I’ll test it first to make sure I’m not in any way preventing the side from leading the game, which might be 70/30. The worst-case situation is to have one fewer player than necessary and leave the guys short out there. I won’t participate if I believe even 1% of it would be untruthful,” stated Finch.
Only the top two teams advance to the semi-finals, and although Australia is currently tied with New Zealand and England in terms of points, the home team and defending champion have a slightly lower net run rate.
Finch was certain that he and David would play on Friday night, but he was categorical that he would sit out if he felt it would hurt Australia’s chances of winning.
He declared: “I’m quite optimistic to play, maybe 70/30, but I’ll test it out (at Thursday’s practice session) to make sure that I’m not causing any hindrances for the side before the game.
“The worst case situation is that you leave the team out there with one fewer member, leaving the guys short. I won’t play if I think it would compromise the performance of the team by even 1%.”
David’s scan results were quite identical to those of Finch’s, who then said: “He’s in exactly the same boat. During training, I suppose, we’ll learn more about him after he’s been worked out.
“The possibility that both of us will play, one of us will play, neither of us will play, but (they are) same. You don’t want a player who just entered the game with a niggle to go down and jeopardize the team’s performance.”
As their net run rate is higher than that of England and Australia, who were soundly defeated by the Kiwis in their opening match, New Zealand is the favorite to win the group if they defeat Ireland.
Since England has the advantage of facing Sri Lanka on Saturday night knowing what is expected of them, they can seek to overtake Australia by winning similarly convincingly against Afghanistan.
But Finch emphasized that Australia cannot be overly proactive in reducing the net run-rate at the expense of ignoring the primary objective, which is to secure the victory.
He stated, “The truth is that we are in this scenario as a result of our first game. We were aware that if things went smoothly, the run rate would be the deciding factor for the remainder of the tournament.
“The last thing you want to happen, however, is to push yourself too far and lose the two points. If that happens, something could happen in the Sri Lanka-England game, making you susceptible.
There are undoubtedly some situations that we need to monitor throughout the game so that, if we find ourselves in a favourable position, we can take advantage of it.
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