Aaron Finch

A solidly built, aggressive batter from a country town in Victoria, Aaron Finch ascended to become Australia's ODI and T20I captain, leading his country to their first T20 World Cup triumph in 2021.

Finch has twice held the record for the highest score in a T20I: his 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018, surpassed the 156 against England in 2013. In 2014, Finch was named Australia's T20I captain, replacing George Bailey, but on the eve of the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, the selectors decided to consolidate the captaincy of all three formats and handed the job to Steven Smith. Finch at the time was the No.1-ranked T20I batter in the world but found himself suddenly struggling to hold on to his place in the side - though he had been an automatic selection in Australia's ODI and T20I teams, and had set the tone for their triumphant 2015 World Cup with 135 in their opening match against England at the MCG.

In 2018, amid a meltdown in Australian cricket in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands, Finch found himself installed as the permanent national white-ball captain. He also made his Test debut in 2018 on the back of his white-ball form, scoring 62 and 49 on debut in Dubai against Pakistan, but endured a form slump in the home 2018-19 season after trying to adjust his technique to Test cricket and was dropped from the side.

He retired from one-day cricket in 2022 after a lean run with the bat, although he did lead Australia to a 2-0 win over New Zealand in his final series.

Finch made his first-class debut for Victoria at 21 but did not play his first Sheffield Shield match until two years later. Victoria had not always viewed him in their preferred Shield batting order, and nearly three years passed between his second and third first-class centuries. He made an unbeaten 288 against New Zealand in a first-class tour match in Blacktown in 2015-16, although that game was ultimately abandoned as the New Zealanders complained about the condition of the pitch.

Finch is an in-demand T20 cricketer, having played for nine IPL franchises as well as for Yorkshire and Surrey in England. He has also been a mainstay of the Melbourne Renegades side since the inception of the BBL and captained the team to their first BBL title in 2019.