Flying Finch overcomes numbers game

Aaron Finch's crucial half-century against Sri Lanka on Sunday night represented somewhat of a breakthrough performance for a man who is already on track to become one of Australia's most prolific run-scorers in One-Day International cricket.

The opener's 46-ball innings of 56 in Colombo, including the only two sixes of the match, gave Australia the start they needed in a contest where a little more than 450 runs were scored, well below the average for a modern 50-over game.

Finch, the current world No.17 in ODI cricket who was ranked as high as seventh 18 months ago, has already amassed seven centuries and 12 fifties since his debut in early 2013, placing him ninth all-time and first among Australians for the highest ratio of centuries per match.

But a deeper look at his career record uncovers a surprising statistical vagary that he'll be looking to arrest in Sri Lanka over the coming weeks.

Report & Highlights: Australia claim ODI series opener

The vast majority of Finch's success in ODI cricket has come against the three nations Australia play the most – England, India and South Africa.

In 41 matches against that trio, the right-hander has 16 scores of 50 or more and averages a touch under 47, a mark that drops to a modest 18.71 against all other Test-playing nations.

And his performance in Colombo was just the third time in 24 ODIs that he's scored fifty or more against a country other than England, India or South Africa, with the other milestones a score of 148 against Scotland in 2013 and the 67 he posted against Zimbabwe 12 months later.

It's a surprising imbalance, and one that's perhaps inconsequential given his overall success at the highest level, but something he can address in the four matches against Sri Lanka to come.

And with conditions expected to favour the home side's spinners, as they did in the series opener, Finch will have a crucial role to play at the top of the order against the hard new ball.

"We noticed that as soon as the ball got a bit older, it started to spin quite big and it wasn't coming onto the bat," the 29-year-old said after the three-wicket win in Colombo.

"So we just made a call to try and take on the new ball and I think generally in the subcontinent, that is the way to play.

"It came off today for a little bit so it was nice to get the team off to a flyer. That's generally the way games (go) on wickets that are so slow and low."

The high-risk approach Finch, his opening partner David Warner and back-up openers Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja are inclined to adopt in spinning conditions is underlined by the career numbers of Finch and Warner in Asia, which are lower than their overall career records.

Both players have achieved success outside Australia but have struggled on the slow surfaces of the subcontinent, scoring a combined tally of four half-centuries from 18 matches and averaging well below their career marks (Finch 27.80 and Warner 26.25).

And the difficulty Australian top-order batsmen face in Asia is underlined by the fact that only two Aussie openers have scored an ODI century there in 62 matches over the past decade – Shane Watson (twice: 116no against Pakistan in 2009 and 185no against Bangladesh in 2011) and Shaun Marsh (112 against India in 2009).

But Finch says the confidence the Australians gained from their grinding win in the series opener will hold them in good stead for the rest of the series, no matter what conditions they encounter.

"The (pitch) that they've prepared out there for the following game (on Wednesday) looks identical to how this one looked two days ago," Finch said of the centre wicket at the Premedasa Stadium.

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"But they obviously brushed it up and cut the grass off it, so it'll be interesting to see which way they go. 

"But the confidence we got out of that win tonight, chasing on a difficult wicket, it gives us belief that we can play in all conditions now.

"To play good spinners on a wicket turning that muich, that's probably as hard as it's going to be in terms of extreme spin."

AARON FINCH v ALL ODI NATIONS

England
M: 16 | Runs: 649 | Ave: 46.35 | 100s: 3 | 50s: 2

India
M: 14 | Runs: 580 | Ave: 44.61 | 100s: 1 | 50s: 5

South Africa
M: 11 | Runs: 507 | Ave: 50.07 | 100s: 2 | 50s: 3

Scotland
M: 2 | Runs: 168 | Ave: 84.00 | 100s: 1 | 50s: 0

West Indies
M: 9 | Runs: 167 | Ave: 18.55 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 0

Sri Lanka
M: 4 | Runs: 100 | Ave: 25.00 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 1

Zimbabwe
M: 2 | Runs: 78 | Ave: 39.00 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 1

Pakistan
M: 4 | Runs: 34 | Ave: 8.50 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 0

New Zealand
M: 2 | Runs: 14 | Ave: 7.00 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 0

Afghanistan
M: 1 | Runs: 4 | Ave: 4.00 | 100s: 0 | 50s: 0