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Aaron Finch announcement sparks outpouring of tributes around cricket world

The Aussie will go down as one of the nation's best ever white-ball players.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·4-min read
Aaron Finch (pictured) holding the T20 World Cup trophy.
Aaron Finch has retired from T20 international cricket and stepped down as the Aussie captain. (Getty Images)

Australian World Cup winning captain Aaron Finch has announced his retirement from international cricket in a press conference on Tuesday. Finch retired as One Day International cricket captain in September last year, before leading Australia into the T20 World Cup.

Finch's men were heading into the home World Cup under pressure and didn't get out of the group stage, which saw him play his final game in the green and gold. Finch's retirement means Australia will be searching for a new T20 captain with the 2024 World Cup taking place in the West Indies and United States.

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Finch will go down as one of Australia's greatest white-ball cricketers. Finch was granted the permanent white-ball captaincy role in 2018. He went on to win the 2015 World Cup, before leading Australia to its first ever T20 World Cup win in 2021.

The big-hitting opener scored more than 8,500 runs across three formats for his nation. Finch has scored 3,120 runs at as phenomenal strike rate of 142.53 in international T20 cricket. No player has scored more runs for Australia with a better strike rate.

The opener scored 5,406 runs at an average of 38.89 from 146 ODIs, before his retirement after a lean run of runs. Finch also managed to earn a baggy green after he played five Test matches for his nation.

Aaron Finch, pictured here with his wife Amy and daughter Esther.
Aaron Finch poses with his wife Amy and daughter Esther. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The veteran star who was crucial to Australia's win at the 2015 Cricket World Cup leaves the ODI world having scored the fourth-most hundreds for the green and gold, behind only Ricky Ponting, David Warner and Mark Waugh. During the press conference Finch said he wanted to give the next captain time before the upcoming World Cup.

"The time is right to let the T20 team move on into a new phase. Particularly with the World Cup coming up in 2024," he said. "The time is right to allow a new captain to take over and move the team into a new direction.

"It's been an amazing journey. I'm very grateful and thankful."

Aaron Finch reflects on illustrious career

After his retirement from ODI said he was incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to captain Australia for so long. "It has been a fantastic ride with some incredible memories," Finch said.

"I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of some brilliant one-day sides. Equally, I have been blessed by all those I have played with and the many people behind the scenes.

"I thank all of those who have helped and supported my journey to this point." Finch made his ODI debut in 2013 alonside fellow first-gamers Usman Khawaja and Phil Hughes, eventually becoming a World Cup champion two years later.

Finch went to become the longest ever serving T20 captain. He won the Australian T20 player of the year in 2014 and 2018 and also won the 2020 men's ODI player of the year.

with AAP

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