Victorian captain Matthew Wade says limited-overs international opener Aaron Finch’s king-pair nightmare in the Sheffield Shield clash with NSW won’t become a habit for the 26-year-old.
Finch was bowled by NSW left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe for a first-ball duck after playing no shot on Saturday as Victoria reached 4(dec)-356 in their second innings, setting the Blues a target of 240 to win from 34 overs in the final session.
The Blues were 0-94 off 18 overs with an hour of play remaining when the match was declared a draw with in-form Test opener David Warner unbeaten on 51 and Nic Maddinson on 36.
NSW claimed first-innings points after scoring 353 in reply to Victoria’s 236.
Finch had already made a “globe” in the first innings after failing to keep out a yorker from NSW paceman Sean Abbott.
The right-hander will line up for an Australian Invitational XI against England at the SCG in a four-day game starting on Wednesday and will miss Victoria’s trip to Hobart to play Tasmania.
“I’m sure ‘Finchy’ will be fine,” Wade told reporters on Saturday.
“Everyone knows the class player that he is. He’s done it before in the shorter formats … and for Australia A.
“We’ll be getting around him and helping him out but there’s no panic stations for us here.
“We know eventually ‘Finchy’ is going to come out and do really well in Sheffield Shield cricket … we’ve just got to trust him and he’ll be fine.”
At international level, Finch averages 30.23 in 18 one-dayers and a sensational 52.28 in nine Twenty20 games, but his first-class mark of 28.55 in 34 matches leaves higher selection honours a long way off.
Despite Finch’s double failure, Victoria batted on strongly on Saturday with Test opener Chris Rogers hitting 117, sharing an opening stand of 140 with Rob Quiney (56). Young No.3 Peter Handscomb (94) fell six shy of his second first-class hundred while Cameron White was unbeaten on 70.
The aggressive Warner dominated Victoria’s bowlers in the post-tea session, clipping five fours and a six for his 51 off just 45 deliveries.
“After four overs (0-29), I was very worried, (given) Davey (Warner) plays the way that he plays and Maddinson is a very aggressive player as well,” Wade added.
“The first few overs were nerve-wracking.”
NSW skipper Michael Clarke said he was thrilled with the form of Warner ahead of the first Ashes Test from November 21 in Brisbane.
“We’d have liked an opportunity to win the game, but that many runs in that little amount of overs, we didn’t have a chance to win,” Clarke said.
“But plenty of positives, great to see a few of the guys making runs and the bowlers fight hard on a pretty good batting wicket.”
