World Cup - Don’t think there’s any panic, they need to freshen up: Aaron Finch on AUS's rare slump start

For the first time in Cricket World Cup history, Australia lost their opening two matches, unlocking a rare slump start to their campaign. Former Australia captain and top-order batter Aaron Finch feels the players' body language is flat, but there is no panic in the dressing room as the five-time winners can still peak in this tournament. Following Australia’s second straight loss in this ongoing CWC 2023, Finch shared his opinion on what is happening behind the scenes.

The team from Down Under lost their first match to India in Chennai by six wickets and went down against South Africa by 134 runs in Lucknow.

Besides the shallow performances from batters in both games, dropping catches and poor out-fielding come across as bigger worries. Against the Proteas, the Aussies dropped six catches, the most by a team in a World Cup game.

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"The body language on the field is quite flat at the moment from Australia," Finch told ESPNcricinfo's Match Day show.

"Even with the ball, they are a bit standoffish, they are waiting for things to happen, and that can become contagious among the group as well.

"The last thing you want to do is start the tournament poorly because there's no way to get yourself back into it. It's been a tough start…two games where you say if we break even, win one lose one, we are okay with that, then it's a bit of a softer run home compared especially with India first up,” Finch noted.

Unlike before, Australia’s road to the World Cup had many obstacles, with the team first losing to South Africa (3-2) despite leading 2-0 at one stage.

The Pat Cummins-led side then lost the ODI series against India and entered the World Cup with five losses from six matches.

Finch added that playing so many games in the lead-up to the World Cup, including two practice matches and with management also wanting players to remain fit throughout, took a toll and reflected on their performances.

"The tone was set early on, and it hasn't recovered yet. They need a way to freshen up, mentally and physically, because it's been a gruelling lead-up with five ODIs in South Africa, three T20s, coming to India and playing three ODIs then two warm-up matches when they only had 11 fit players. One-day cricket, physically, takes quite a bit out of you,” Finch added.

Finch backs Inglis’ selection

What raised eyebrows against South Africa was the shock selection of Josh Inglis ahead of regular Alex Carey. When asked to explain this, Finch said he was not surprised by this call, claiming Carey’s form in ODIs heading into the CWC was a worry anyway.

"Don't think there's any panic," Finch said. "If you look at the stats, Alex Carey's last 10 games, [there are] seven scores under 10. It just looks like he's been a little bit frantic when he's got the crease, there hasn't been a real pattern to the way he's gone about his innings.

"Think going into the warm-up games they were still confident he could come good, then to miss out in the first game to [Ravindra] Jadeja, a decent ball around the wicket, but you should be able to keep that out at least. It's a harsh selection, but there is some justification behind it,” the former Australia captain added.

Meanwhile, with two losses in as many matches, Australia sit in the bottom two on the points table. They next face Sri Lanka on Monday (Oct 16) in Lucknow.

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