Aaron Finch receives slight boost amid Aussie T20 World Cup drama
Aussie captain Aaron Finch and big hitter Tim David are still hopeful they can participate in the nation's must-win game against against Afghanistan at the T20 World Cup.
In a brutal sequence, Finch, David and Marcus Stoinis all suffered hamstring injuries in Australia's win against Ireland in Brisbane on Monday night.
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Finch looked like he was in the most discomfort after wincing during his innings, before going off the field.
Stoinis has recovered well and Australian selector George Bailey is confident he will play on Friday.
However, Finch and David are still waiting for further confirmation after undergoing a light training session on Wednesday.
"We will keep assessing them over the next 48 hours," Australia's chairman of selectors George Bailey told reporters on Wednesday,
"Stoin ... is good to go, the other two are actually pretty good, they are moving pretty well out there today.
"I haven't had a chance to grab our medical staff ... I trust what information they will give us and I trust the information that Finchy will give us.
"We will give it the time it needs."
David and skipper Finch undertook some light running at Australia's optional training session in Adelaide on Wednesday but did not bat.
Stoinis did not participate in the session.
Australia's T20 World Cup hopes in jeopardy
The Australians must defeat Afghanistan in their last group game to have any hope of progressing to the semi-finals as they bid to defend their title.
The host nation sit third in their group behind New Zealand (first) and England (second).
Although England will likely take their spot in the semi-finals if they win their final match against Sri Lanka.
And Bailey understands that the Aussies need to focus on just playing the best they can, rather than allowing the permutations and net run rate get in the way.
"First and foremost, it's about playing as well as we can," he said.
"I don't think we have put a complete game of T20 cricket together this tournament yet.
"So to go outside of that and start searching too much without thinking ... to win the game would be dangerous for us.
"But we will be aware of what we need to do if we need to press a button at some stage."
There is talk if one of the batters miss out, Steve Smith could fill in.
And Haddin said Smith's ability to play spin could be a bonus against Afghanistan.
However, Cameron Green could also be ideal following his run in the T20 side before the tournament.
"This is going to be a real interesting selection because Afghanistan will be predominantly spin bowlers,” Haddin said on Triple M.
“You’ve got Rashid Khan and Mujeeb (Ur Rahman) who are their big X-factor players and Steve Smith does play spin better than anyone in the world, so do you go him in the middle order and move Stoinis up to the top because Marcus Stoinis at the moment he’s been dynamo. He’s playing a really aggressive game, he’s comfortable in his role in the middle so do you want to move him up the top?
“On the flip side you’ve got Cameron Green and we’ve seen Australia’s appetite to have him at the top of the order leading into this tournament.
“The obvious replacement to me is Green goes up, that gives you another bowling option. You’ve got three quicks, three medium pace all-rounders, so you’ve got options with the ball. So I’d imagine Green’s the frontrunner.”
with AAP
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