Aaron Finch made his second century in one-day cricket internationals, sharing a 163-run opening partnership with David Warner that lifted Australia to a six-wicket win over England on Sunday in the first of a four-match series.
Finch made 121 and Warner 65 as Australia, in a carefully measured chase, ran down England’s competitive total of 269-7 to finish on 270-4 in 45.4 overs. The opening stand, which occupied 27.5 overs, allowed Australia to maintain the crushing superiority over England it displayed in winning the Ashes test series 5-0. And England once again contributed to its own demise, dropping easy catches and lacking sharpness in the field.
Captain Alastair Cook’s wretched summer continued when he was dismissed for 4 from only the third ball of the match. “I think you’ve got to get yourself in before you can do anything,” Cook said. “We saw that with the way Aaron Finch and David Warner played. They got themselves in, established a partnership and, as that partnership builds, you can accelerate along the way. I think that’s a fairly obvious thing to say.
“In our innings we kept building partnerships of 20 or 30, then got out again.”
Finch outshone the usually aggressive Warner in the early stages of the Australian innings, reaching his half century off just 47 balls while Warner struggled with his timing and took 59 balls to reach his seventh one-day 50.
Finch’s half century contained seven fours and Warner’s three fours and a six but Australia never resorted to brutal methods in pursuing England’s total. Its run chase was superbly paced and Finch and Warner were at their best through the middle overs as they kept up a flow of singles.
Brief Scores
England: 269/7 (Ballance 79, Morgan 50, Bell 41, Buttler 34 no; McKay 3/44) lost to Australia: 270-4 (Finch 121, Warner 65, Clarke 43) by six wickets.