Aaron Finch avoids unwanted Cricket World Cup history

Aaron Finch has left the West Indies' Darren Sammy standing alone as the unluckiest captain in Cricket World Cup history after winning the toss against Bangladesh.

Finch had lost his first five tosses of the tournament, with Australia still recovering to win four of those matches.

In the 44-year history of World Cups, only Sammy had ever lost six straight in the same tournament when he had no luck with the coin in 2011.

Now Finch has managed to avoid joining him after Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza incorrectly called heads.

Australia, bringing Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa and Nathan Coulter-Nile into the side, will bat first.

"It looks like a good surface so we'll bat first,” he said.

“We've played well in patches but we've not been able to put it all together for 100 overs.

“It's exciting that we're in the position we are without putting it all together."

Finch’s run of lost tosses came after Tim Paine became the unluckiest captain in Test history last summer, winning just two of his first nine tosses.

That left the wicketkeeper's strike rate at just 22 per cent, the lowest of anyone to have captained eight or more matches.

"Maybe I should do the toss tomorrow," Australia's vice-captain Alex Carey had joked on Wednesday.

"It's interesting, though. I think we've lost a lot of tosses, but we've played some pretty good cricket.

"So I guess in a tournament like this, although you want to win the toss, I don't think it matters too much in terms of the outcome.

"If we get sent in, we know it's going to be a good wicket; or if we're chasing, we know what we've got to chase."

Finch had already surpassed then Australian captain Ricky Ponting's losing run from the 2003 tournament.

Ponting, now an assistant coach with the team, lost four in a row as the Aussies went on to lift the trophy.

with AAP