“Always be indebted to them”: Aaron Finch thanks wife and family for sacrifices after retiring from ODI cricket

Aaron Finch thanks wife and family: The Australian captain ended up leading the team to a victory in his last ODI.

Australia captain Aaron Finch has brought an end to his ODI career with a clinical 25-run victory resulting in a 3-0 series whitewash over New Zealand in Cairns.

Finch, who registered a fifth consecutive single-digit score in the format, didn’t contribute much with the bat earlier in the day but was in his usual brilliant form in leading Australia.

Chasing a 268-run target, New Zealand were bundled out for 242 in 49.5 overs to lose 29 wickets across three innings on this tour. While spearhead Mitchell Starc was the pick of their bowlers with figures of 9.5-0-60-3, pacer Sean Abbott and all-rounder Cameron Green were disciplined enough to pick a couple of wickets each.

In addition to lauding the bowlers, Finch also credited batters Steven Smith (105) and Marnus Labuschagne (52) for it was their 169-ball 118-run third-wicket partnership which rescued Australia from 19/2 in the first powerplay. Although both the right-handed batters’ strike rate wasn’t up to the mark in the partnership, Australia not losing any more wickets for almost 30 overs worked in their favour eventually.

“The partnership from Steve [Smith] and Marnus [Labuschagne] was exceptional to take us through the middle-overs and start to build. To get to 260 after probably our slowest start ever in one-day cricket was special,” Finch told Fox Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Aaron Finch thanks wife and family for sacrifices after retiring from ODI cricket

Finch, who joked around not being needed to field for 50 overs post ODI retirement, did make it a point to both thank and credit his family. Considering their presence at the Cazaly’s Stadium in his last ODI as “very special”, Finch pointed out parents’ sacrifices and wife’s constant support made to let him achieve his dreams.

“Very special, they’ve sacrificed so much their entire life for me to be able to achieve something I could only dream about as kid. So, I’ll always be indebted to them for the countless hours in the car as a kid, the hours sitting around at cricket training. My wife and family, the support they’ve given me,” Finch added.

Finch, 35, had finished a 146-match ODI career as Australia’s 14th highest run-scorer and sixth on the list of most ODIs as Australia’s captain.