Eoin Morgan v Aaron Finch: Focus on captains ahead of England-Australia T20s

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Aaron Finch will be out for revenge against rival captain Eoin Morgan when Australia get their tour of England underway this week as three Twenty20 internationals are followed by three one-day internationals.

While Finch masterminded a victory over last year’s World Cup hosts in the group stage, England had the last laugh as they mauled Australia in the semi-finals en route to lifting a first-ever global 50-over crown.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the captains’ records and how they are limbering up ahead of this month’s white-ball fixtures.

Captaincy

Aaron Finch has led Australia to the top of the T20 rankings (Nick Potts/PA)
Aaron Finch has led Australia to the top of the T20 rankings (Nick Potts/PA)

Having presided over an historic success 12 months ago, Morgan is virtually untouchable in his position. Since being backed to lead the side after the shambles of the 2015 World Cup, the Irishman has overseen 64 wins and 26 defeats while they are unbeaten in a multi-game bilateral ODI series in three and a half years. Until recently T20s have taken a back seat but England are undefeated in their last six series and have risen to second in the world rankings – behind Australia, who have won nine of their last 10 completed matches. Finch’s ODI record since assuming the captaincy in October 2018 is patchier with 19 wins and 14 defeats.

Matches

Eoin Morgan is among a select number of cricketers to win a limited-overs World Cup double (Nick Potts/PA)
Eoin Morgan is among a select number of cricketers to win a limited-overs World Cup double (Nick Potts/PA)

Morgan is one of the world’s most experienced T20 campaigners, with 92 appearances placing him eighth on the all-time list. Having been part of the England team that reigned on the T20 stage 10 years ago, Morgan is an exclusive club of players to complete a limited-overs World Cup double. Morgan holds the distinction of being the most-capped Englishman in ODIs having played 239 times. Finch has featured in 126 ODIs – the most by an active Australian, while he was also a key part of their 2015 World Cup win – and 61 T20s.

Batting

Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20 internationals (Mike Egerton/PA)
Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20 internationals (Mike Egerton/PA)

Only four players – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill and Shoaib Malik – have more T20 runs than Morgan’s 2,228 at an average of 30.94 while he made a career-best 91 off only 41 deliveries against New Zealand last November. Morgan is England’s leading run-scorer in ODIs with 6,766 at 40.27, with 13 hundreds and 41 half-centuries. Finch has an impressive record in both white-ball formats, with 1,989 T20 runs at 38.25, including two hundreds – one of which came against England when he thrashed 14 sixes in a mammoth 156 seven years ago. The opener has made 4,882 ODI runs at 41.02 with 16 tons and 26 fifties.

Form

Eoin Morgan, left, said on Sunday he is hitting the ball as well as he has ever done (Mike Hewitt/PA)
Eoin Morgan, left, said on Sunday he is hitting the ball as well as he has ever done (Mike Hewitt/PA)

After clubbing 66 from 33 balls against Pakistan on Sunday, Morgan said he feels he is hitting the ball better than ever – and the statistics certainly back that up. He has averaged 53.88 with a strike-rate of 183.71 since March last year and the impressive record extends in ODIs with an average of 61.38 and strike-rate of 106.79 since mid-July 2018. Finch averages a lick above 50 against England in ODIs with seven tons – the most he has against any country. His average in nine T20s against England is elevated to 70.83, underlining how much of a priority it will be for Morgan to get his opposite number cheaply in these matches.

Aaron Finch Eoin Morgan

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