Off The Field

‘Tim David is going to play for Australia’ – Aaron Finch

Written by N Krishnamurthy

Australia men’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch believes that Tim David’s ability to hit from ball one is a pretty rare skill in the sport.

The 26-year-old Singapore-born Australian was recently a part of the Mumbai Indians team in the fifteenth edition of the Indian Premier League. He scored 186 runs in eight matches with a strike rate of 216.28.

Currently, he is playing for the Lancashire cricket club in the T20 blast cricket league where he has started the season with knocks of 35 (18) and 60 (25).

“He’s been in fantastic form for a while now, the back end of the IPL was fantastic for him, it was at his brutal best,” Cricket.com.au quoted Finch saying.

“The ability to hit from ball one is a pretty rare skill and he’s done that plenty of times now. For him to keep being so consistent that’s something that we’ll definitely look at over the next little while,” he added.

After the T20 Blast, David will play for Southern Brave in England’s Hundred ball competition that runs from August 4 to September 4.

Mumbai dropped David after their opening two games following scores of 12. But after Mumbai went winless in their first eight games, David was recalled, finishing the tournament with 186 runs at 37 from eight matches as his side won four of their last six games.

David’s tournament strike rate of 216 was the highest of any batter in a single IPL season to have faced more than 50 balls.

Australia’s next scheduled T20 assignment following the Sri Lankan tour is a two-match series against the West Indies on the Gold Coast in early October and a three-match series against England at the Gabba and Canberra before Finch’s side starts their World Cup defence at the SCG on October 22.

A three-match T20 series in India in September is also on the cards but the dates are yet to be confirmed.

About the author

N Krishnamurthy