Last Updated on 44 minutes ago by Dom Harris
Aaron Finch has likened the current state of English cricket to a ‘circus’, amid an ongoing leadership crisis and poor run of results.
England were convincingly dispatched 4-1 Down Under in the Ashes series last winter but refrained from making any changes to the leadership group, only for captain Ben Stokes to sensationally announce his retirement from international cricket during the third Test against New Zealand and head coach Brendon McCullum to be relieved of his red-ball duties two weeks later.
The situation leaves England with two big decisions to make, with less than a month until their next Test with Pakistan begins and under a year before a home Ashes series.
Andy Flower and Justin Langer had both been strongly linked with the head coach vacancy but Flower ruled himself out due to franchise commitments, whilst recent reports suggest Langer is not currently under consideration.
While Ex-Australia batter Aaron Finch admitted it is never nice to see players and coaches lose their jobs, the 39-year-old was not too empathetic on his thoughts on the current situation unfolding with Australia’s old enemy.
‘A circus’
Speaking to Michael Atherton on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Australia’s former white-ball captain shared the thoughts of many around England’s approach to the recent Ashes series and also questioned decisions made by the hierarchy.
“You never want to see players feel like they’re being forced out or coaches be sacked. But the way that it’s all panned out, it has been a little bit like a circus.
“When you look back to the preparation of the Ashes, I thought, not having a warm-up game for whatever reason. And almost shutting everybody out saying ‘No, we know best. We know what we’re doing. We’re here to win’.
“And then for it to fall apart like that, to see where it goes in the New Zealand series, where New Zealand played traditional hard Test cricket and found a way to grind out a win.”
The departures of McCullum and Stokes closes the chapter on England’s ‘Bazball’ era and the swashbuckling brand of aggressive cricket which certainly got people talking but ultimately produced mixed results on the field.
“I think that when you look at it as whole, you say there’s been a few decisions that, whether it be style of play, shot selection, decisions behind the scenes, as an Australian, you sit back and giggle a little bit,” Finch added.
On whether his Australia team were ever subject to a curfew, Finch replied: “Never. If there was, that would have been played out in black and white.
“It’s hard to know exactly what is going on without being inside those four walls. So you can speculate all you want, but from the outside, it has looked like a bit of a mess.”
