Aaron Finch silences the trolls after 'disgusting' wife drama
Aaron Finch has silenced his critics with a match-winning knock in Australia's victory over New Zealand in the third T20 international.
Just days after his wife revealed the 'disgusting' abuse she'd received during her husband's batting slump, Finch roared back into form with a brutal 69.
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Glenn Maxwell's quick-fire 70 then pushed Australia to 4-208 and beyond the Black Caps' reach, Australia keeping their series hopes alive with a 64-run victory.
The result keeps the series in the balance - the Kiwis leading 2-1 with two matches to go - and takes some pressure off under-fire Australian captain Finch.
He did need a slice of good fortune though, surviving a first ball lbw shout by umpire Chris Gaffaney with the ball hitting the stumps.
Shaking off the scare, Finch combined well with Josh Philippe (43 off 27), reaching his half-century with a stunning switch-hit six off Ish Sodhi.
The 34-year-old holed out from the spinner shortly after, but put his run of poor knocks firmly in the rear-view mirror.
Australia's captain, who has been backed into October's World Cup despite not making even a half-century all through the Big Bash, said he'd be lying if the pressure wasn't getting to him.
"Sometimes the harder you try the worse you get in this game," he said.
"You can sometimes get caught up in searching for a score and searching for the result and forgetting about the process."
Last week, Finch's wife Amy hit out at trolls who had targeted her because of her husband's poor form.
After Aaron managed just 12 runs in the second game of the series on Thursday, Amy was fuming over a deluge of online abuse.
Amy shared one message she'd received from an angry cricket watcher.
“Tell your husband to step up by his captaincy bloody loser f***ing a**hole b**** because of him I lost all my money,” the Instagram comment read.
She also wrote: “Part of me doesn’t want to give this individual the satisfaction of a response, but this kind of crap happens far too often!”
“I don’t appreciate it, neither does my husband who is battling and doing everything he possibly can to get back into the runs.
“Honestly, these keyboard warriors need to go and get a bloody life.
“This isn’t even one of the worst that has come my way, but I’ve had enough!”
Ashton Agar makes T20 history in win
In New Zealand's batting innings, Ashton Agar claimed three wickets in the 13th over on his way to a career-best 6-30.
In doing so, he became the fourth person and first Australian to claim six wickets in a T20 innings.
Tasmanian speedster Riley Meredith also took an impressive 2-24 on debut as New Zealand finished all out for 144.
Maxwell, who had also missed out on runs this series, was even more impressive.
The Victorian started slowly with just five off nine but accelerated sharply, making 65 off his next 20 balls, including 28 off one Jimmy Neesham over as Australia powered past 200.
Setting out for what would be their highest-ever chase, the Kiwis struggled in response to Meredith's pace.
In his first international over, the 24-year-old claimed the wicket of Tim Seifert (4) as he ticked over 150km/h.
In his second, he sent the world's No.1-ranked Test batsman to the sheds, trapping Kane Williamson lbw for nine.
with AAP
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