3 minute read

After winning the ODI player of the year for the first time, limited-overs captain Aaron Finch says last year's World Cup loss to England still hurts every day.

Aaron Finch still hurts every day about Australia's semi-final defeat in last year's World Cup.

The nation's limited-overs captain took out the ODI player of the year at the Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne on Monday night.

The Victorian opener won Australia's best Twenty20 player in 2014 and 2018, but this is his first award in the 50-over format.

Finch opened the batting when Australia won the 2015 tournament on home soil, but the World Cup last June and July was his first as skipper.

After a dominant run in England, Australia's campaign ended meekly in an eight-wicket loss to the hosts.

"It hurts every day," Finch said about the semi-final loss.

"It's something that you look back on ... it runs through your head, what you could have done differently that day to get the result."

While the pain still remains from the Edgbaston disaster, Finch says he will take plenty into this October's Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

"Potentially we peaked a little bit early in the 50-over World Cup. It was such a long build-up, a lot of warm-up games," Finch said.

"Maybe we were just flagging a bit towards the end.

"In the World Cup you have to peak at the right time, you have to be tracking in the right direction at the end of the tournament."

Finch finished ahead of fellow opener David Warner and axed batsman Usman Khawaja to claim the ODI award.

The 33-year-old blasted 451 runs at an average of 112.75 during a series against Pakistan in the UAE, before hitting 507 runs in the World Cup.