Dubai, Oct 31 (IANS): Australian captain Aaron Finch said after his team's eight-wicket thrashing by England that there was no problem with the composition of the team despite the former T20 World champions finishing the task with 50 deliveries to spare, and added that Steve Smith had no injury concerns going in the remaining two Group games in the ICC T20 World Cup 'Super 12' stage.
After two wins in the Group, Australia were humbled by England, with the Eoin Morgan-led side making a mockery of the 126-run target, finishing the game between the two cricketing giants in 11.4 overs, with wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler hammering an unbeaten 71 off 32 balls.
Steve Smith was seen holding his groin during the match, but Finch said he would be fine for the next game against Bangladesh. "No, he'll be fine. He didn't mention anything, so I'm sure that he'll be fine. We're all getting a bit older, aren't we," Finch said in half jest.
Finch said that England, the 2010 T20 World Cup champions, never gave Australia the freedom to play their natural game, keeping his team under pressure all through the match.
"I think obviously the powerplay -- they bowled very well, put us on the back foot, and then we were under pressure to try and get to a competitive total. All credit to England in that powerplay, the way that they squeezed us, kept taking wickets, which obviously when you go in with specialist batters that probably is going to leave you a little bit short at times."
Finch did not agree with the logic that Mitch Marsh would have made the difference had he been included in the side ahead of Smith. Former Australian spinner, Shane Warne, has said that he is disappointed with the decision to play Smith instead of Marsh, and also sending Glen Maxwell in the powerplay.
"Maxwell going in in the powerplay, when you've only got six specialist batters, you're backing your top-six to get the job done, so there's no issue there. Maxy (Maxwell) has done extremely well in the past; he's as destructive as anyone if he gets through the powerplay, so that's okay," said Finch.
"And Smith instead of Marsh, that's just subjective, isn't it. Everyone has got a different opinion on it, and that's okay. We thought we picked a team to win the game (against England)."
Elaborating further on the rationale behind leaving Marsh out, Finch said, "When you go three down in the powerplay, it's not an ideal scenario when you go in with that structured team. The reason (Ashton) Agar was in there was we felt it was a really good matchup for England. His ability to bowl in the powerplay and through the middle overs in the past against England has been really good. We just thought that that was the way to go tonight. It was not a reflection on how Mitch (Marsh) has been going at all. It was purely just a matchup thing for this game. Yeah, it was unfortunate we didn't get the job done."