'I'm still pinching myself': Finch

Swashbuckling opener Aaron Finch has revealed some fascinating details about his unforgettable day out at Lord’s last Saturday, when the Victorian joined some of cricket’s all-time greats to celebrate the bicentenary of Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Playing for the MCC against the Rest of the World, Finch blazed an unbeaten, match-winning 181 to steal the show from a host of legends, including Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Shane Warne.

Quick Single: Truly a match for the ages

But it was time spent at the crease with some of those legends, as opposed to his own feats, that the 26-year-old particularly relished.

“To play at Lord’s for one, and to have the opportunity to play with the likes of Lara, Sachin, Dravid, Chanderpaul – just on my team alone – was a pretty phenomenal day,” Finch told RSN breakfast radio.

“In terms of getting the opportunity to play with your childhood heroes – guys who I’ve sat and watched for hours and hours on TV – it was amazing.

“Just to share the changeroom, have dinner and a beer with them, and just talk about cricket was unbelievable and something I never thought I’d get the opportunity to do, I’m still pinching myself. “Especially with someone like Lara, who retired in 2007, but just the way it all panned out made it a day I’ll never forget.”

Finch, still very much at the peak of his own powers as he pursues his ambition to crack Australia’s Test set-up, soaked up the lessons of masters during his near 50-over stay at the crease.  

“I was just trying to learn as much as I could,” he admitted.

“I worked out that I got to bat alongside about 52,000 Test runs throughout the day, and you see how cool they are at the crease, and just as people, I mean these guys have had so much pressure and expectation on them throughout their whole career, but they’re so relaxed and they just embrace that pressure and expectation.”

Lara and Tendulkar, very much among the preeminent batsmen of their era, also offered the occasional word of advice.  

“I like to talk a lot when I bat, and I was trying to chat a lot to Sachin,” Finch said.

“Every now and then I’d see him looking at me like, ‘What are you talking about mate?’ (laughs).

“He’d hit a boundary and I’d go, ‘Great shot, that looked beautiful’. He’d just nod and go ‘Yep’.

“At the end of every over he’d come up to me and go, ‘I think he’s trying to swing it’ … or ‘Maybe he’s trying to get some movement off the seam’.

“So he was very in-depth in the way he thought about the game and how he thought they were trying to get him out.

“Brian was a little bit different, he was more chilled out and didn’t like to talk a hell of a lot, so it was pretty hard to get too much out of him.

“But I remember when I was in the 90s, and I was getting a bit itchy, I wanted to get a hundred.

“(Lara) said to me, ‘Mate, make sure you get a hundred, it’ll be a special thing to get it at Lord’s.

“And when you do get it, make sure no-one gets you out today, because that’s what batting is; people earn the right to get you out, so make sure they do that.

“He said, ‘Don’t give your wicket away. Keep batting for as long as you can and make sure these guys know that they weren’t good enough to get you out’.”

And his biggest fear, playing with and against the best of the best?

“The thing I was most nervous about, believe it or not, was running Sachin out,” Finch grinned.

“Because I knew I would not be allowed back in India, or out of London, if I ran Sachin out on a stage like that, in possibly the last competitive game of his career.”

Finch even attributed part of his own outstanding performance to the presence of the likes of Tendulkar and Lara.  

“When you’re playing with guys like that, you’ve got such a respect for them,” he said. “So it was almost a position where I was trying to impress these guys.”

But the highlight of his day – or one of many – came after he’d been applauded off the ground and the immediate celebrations had died down.

“The thing I’ll remember most about that day is having Brian and Sachin both walk up to me and ask me to sign a shirt,” he added.

“You just never expect that to happen.

“Myself and Dan Vettori … were weighing up (the best time) to get them to sign a shirt here or there, but when they walk up to you and ask to sign a shirt, that’s pretty special.”