Ahead of an all-important match against Afghanistan, Australia is sweating upon the fitness of a couple of their players Aaron Finch and Tim David. Both of them are unsure about playing in the Afghanistan match, and George Bailey has given an update about the same.
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Australia won their last match against Ireland to keep their hopes alive in the tournament, but they faced some injury concerns. Finch was finally in his groove in the last match and won the Man of the Match as well, but the injured his hamstring. Tim David is also nursing a hamstring injury.
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Finch said that Tim David’s injury was just a precautionary thing, but it will be tempting to see if David will play in the match against Afghanistan. If Finch does not play, it will be interesting to see who will lead Australia. Steve Smith has backed Matthew Wade to be Australia’s leader in Finch’s absence.
George Bailey unsure of Aaron Finch and Tim David’s exact fitness status
Australia’s selection head George Bailey is unsure about the exact fitness status of Aaron Finch and Tim David. He said that both of them are able to move and are doing the light sessions as they normally do after a travel day. Bailey updated that both of them are looking pretty good at a moderate speed.
Bailey insists that the decision about both of them will be taken after a full training session, but he was sure that Marcus Stoinis will be able to play the match against Afghanistan. He revealed that Steve Smith and Cameron Green will be possible replacements if the need arises.
“The fact they’re out there moving, always after a travel day it’s going to be pretty light anyway, but to see them out and moving and getting up to moderate speed is pretty good,” George Bailey told reporters.
“I don’t think the time frame (on making a call on their availability) will be different to any other game. We’ll probably get together tomorrow post-training and work through that.”
George Bailey calls Afghanistan a strong side
The qualification scenarios are not in Australia’s hands and even a win against Afghanistan will not be enough for them to qualify for the semi-final. They will need favourable results from other matches as well in order to qualify. However, Bailey insists that they are just aiming to beat Afghanistan at the moment and called them a really strong side.
“First and foremost it’s about winning the game,” Bailey added.
“I don’t think you want to get too carried away with anything other than that at the outset. At the fundamental level, Afghanistan are a very strong side.”
