Aaron Finch suggests that Ashton Turner or Travis Head can lead Australia in T20Is, after announcing his retirement

Former Australia captain Aaron Finch believes the country should strive to pick a white-ball specialist as the next T20 captain, naming Travis Head and Ashton Turner as front-runners. Finch announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday, standing down from Australia’s T20 squad after retiring from ODIs in September after weighing his future throughout the BBL. Australia’s next T20 international series is not until August in South Africa, the start of the build-up to a World Cup in the West Indies and the United States in June next year. Finch said that Adelaide Strikers skipper Head, who replaced him in the one-day side after his retirement, could do the same in the T20 side, while Turner was another choice to take over as captain.

“I think the time is right to let the T20 team move on into a new phase, particularly with a World Cup coming up in 2024,” Finch told reporters at the MCG today. The time is right to allow them enough time and space to allow a new captain to take over and move the team in their direction. The time between now and the T20 World Cup in 2024 is really important. It will be, not a transition phase, but the new leader needs time to come in and mould the team in the direction that they want to take it. To let them just find their own feet and find their own direction, I think, is important.”

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Finch will continue to play in the BBL

Finch said that Adelaide Strikers skipper Head, who replaced him in the one-day side after his retirement, could do the same in the T20 side, while Turner was another choice to take over as captain.”There’s plenty of guys who can do it,” Finch told reporters. Obviously Steve Smith has done it before and done a great job, Pat Cummins, I doubt whether he would want to do it with such a big workload. But there are guys from the outside who could come in and have a big impact. Travis Head and Ashton Turner, these types of guys are experienced, and they know how to win as well, so whichever way they go, the team is in great hands. I probably lean towards a white-ball player more than anything. To be able to focus on two formats as opposed to three I think will be important.”

Finch will continue to play for the Melbourne Renegades in the BBL “for a couple more years,” as he exits international cricket as Australia’s leading men’s T20 scorer with 3120 runs at an average of 34.28 from 103 appearances, 73 of which he captained. With his 172 off 76 balls against Zimbabwe in 2018, Finch holds the global record for the highest individual score in a T20 international. He also owns the third-highest total in history, 156 against England in 2013, which he considers to be his favourite innings of his long and accomplished career. Finch also led Australia in 55 of his 146 One-Day Internationals, accumulating 5406 runs at 38.89 and appearing in five Test matches.