Flipping hell! Finch's unwanted Cup record

He's earnt high praise for his tactical acumen and has led his side to victory in 12 of their past 13 one-dayers, but Aaron Finch has failed miserably in one of his key captaincy duties at the World Cup.

The toss.

After losing his seventh straight coin flip to Sri Lankan counterpart Dimuth Karunaratne on Saturday, Finch is now a fifty-fifty chance of equalling Allan Border's record for the worst ODI toss losing streak by an Australian captain.

Brad Haddin's 10-year-old Zachary cheekily sledged the 32-year-old about his poor record at a press conference last week, while vice-captain Alex Carey even joked that he might have to deputise for Finch when Australia take on Bangladesh tonight.

"It would be nice for Finchy to choose what he wants to do for once," a smiling Carey said on Wednesday. "Maybe I should do the toss tomorrow."

It's an unlikely ploy, but one not without precedent.

In a T20 against Zimbabwe last year, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis sent JP Duminy, who wasn't even playing in the match, out to the middle in a bid to snap a six-game losing streak at the toss.

It worked - Duminy won the toss and the Proteas clinched a series-sealing victory.

Border holds the unfortunate honour of losing the most consecutive ODI tosses by an Australian, with luck going against him in eight consecutive games in 1989. Remarkably, he also lost seven on the bounce four years earlier.

Steve Waugh (between June 1999 and August 1999), Michael Clarke (August 2011 to February 2012) and now Finch have also all lost seven straight, with Waugh’s losing streak – in perhaps a positive omen for the current skipper – coming during Australia’s triumphant 1999 World Cup campaign.

Only Adam Gilchrist, who won just four tosses in the 17 games he captained Australia in one-day cricket, has a worse winning percentage than Finch among Australian ODI skippers.

Finch has won just two in his past 11 ODI tosses and eight from 23 games in total.

His streak of bad luck began in Dubai in March, calling incorrectly in the final two ODIs against Pakistan, and has continued on through Australia's first five games of the World Cup.

He also lost both tosses in their two official warm-up games, though those matches do not count as official ODIs.

Steve Smith will be able to sympathise with his ODI captaincy successor, having lost six tosses in a row in 2016 – one away from the Australian Test record of seven, set by Joe Darling between 1899-1902.

Yet Finch's misfortune has not affected Australia's strong recent 50-over form, nor has winning the toss actually proved an advantage at the World Cup.

Of the 25 games played so far, the side that won the toss has only gone on to win 10 games – a percentage of 40.

"It's interesting, we've lost a lot of tosses but the last seven games we've played some pretty good cricket," Carey continued.

"In a tournament like this, although you want to win the toss, I don’t think it matters too much in terms of the outcome.

"If we get sent in, we know it's going to be a good wicket or if we have to chase we know what we've got to chase."

AUSTRALIA ODI CAPTAINS – TOSS WIN PERCENTAGE (MINIMUM 10 GAMES)

Kim Hughes - 63.26

Steve Smith - 60.78

Greg Chappell - 59.18

Ian Chappell - 54.54

Ricky Ponting - 53.71

Mark Taylor - 50.75

Allan Border - 48.31

Steve Waugh - 45.28

Shane Warne - 45.45

George Bailey - 44.83

Michael Clarke - 40.54

Aaron Finch - 34.78*

Adam Gilchrist - 23.53

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

June 1: Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets

June 6: Australia beat West Indies by 15 runs

June 9: Australia lost to India by 36 runs

June 12: Australia beat Pakistan by 41 runs

June 15: Australia beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs

June 20: Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

Sync Australia's World Cup schedule to your calendar HERE

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE