Australian captain Aaron Finch has created cricket history, leading the Australians to their first-ever ICC Men’s T20 World Cup victory in Dubai.
Finch, alongside veteran wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, both played integral parts throughout the tournament in which the Aussies defeated New Zealand by eight wickets, with seven balls remaining in the final.
Finch’s side was victorious in all but one of their seven matches throughout the tournament despite entering 6th in the ICC T20I rankings prior.
Earlier in the tournament, Wade was heroic in securing Australia’s place in the final, scoring an unbeaten 41* – including three consecutive sixes – to ice a remarkable run chase against Pakistan in the semi-final.
The result ushers in an exciting period in Australian limited-overs cricket, with the next edition of the tournament moving to Australia in October-November of 2022.
“This is huge,” Finch said. “To be the first Australian team to be able to do it. So proud of the way the guys went about the whole campaign.”
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2021 Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia’s squad
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams
Oct 23: Australia beat South Africa by five wickets
Oct 28: Australia beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets
Oct 30: England beat Australia by eight wickets
Nov 4: Australia beat Bangladesh by eight wickets
Nov 6: Australia beat West Indies by eight wickets
Semi-finals
Nov 10: New Zealand beat England by five wickets
Nov 11: Australia beat Pakistan by five wickets
Final
Nov 14: New Zealand v Australia, Dubai (6pm local, 1am Nov 15 AEDT)
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