“It has been a fantastic ride with some incredible memories,” Finch mentioned. “I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of some brilliant one-day sides. Equally, I have been blessed by all those I have played with and the many people behind the scenes.
“It is time now to provide a brand new chief the very best alternative to organize for and win the subsequent World Cup. I thank all of those that have helped and supported my journey so far.”
He had set his sights on making the 2023 ODI World Cup in India his swansong, but will now attempt to defend the T20 title on home soil in what could be the final stage of his international career after Australia claimed the trophy for the first time last year.
Australia have eight T20Is (plus an additional warm-up match against India) for Finch to try and find some form before starting their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand at the SCG on October 22.
He made his debut against Sri Lanka at the MCG in 2013 and scored his first century against Scotland later that year when he struck 148. His career-best of 153 not out came against Pakistan in Sharjah in March 2019 at a time when he had emerged from a lean run of form which had raised questions over him ahead of that year’s ODI World Cup. He scored four ODI hundreds in 2019 while amassing 1141 runs.
He had a particularly impressive record against Pakistan (49.16, two hundreds), England (average 48.35, seven hundreds) and India (48.66, four hundreds).
Finch was initially named T20I captain in 2014 but on the eve of the 2016 World Cup the job was handed to Steven Smith as the role was consolidated across the three formats and he was left out at the start of the tournament.
He was named the permanent white-ball captain after the fallout to the 2018 ball-tampering scandal which saw Smith banned. He led Australia to the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England before they were heavily beaten by the hosts.
“On behalf of Australian Cricket, I want to congratulate Aaron on his huge contribution as captain of the Australian Men’s ODI staff and as an exquisite exponent of the 50-over format,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said.
“Aaron is an enormously gifted and decided participant whose excellent deeds with the bat have been matched by his sturdy and provoking management. His resolution to step apart from the ODI captaincy now’s typical of his selfless strategy to the sport.
“I’m delighted Aaron will lead the Australian team into the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup where his leadership, experience and tactical nous will be integral to the defence of our T20 World Cup title on home soil.”
Whoever takes over the ODI captaincy from Finch will begin with a sequence in opposition to England, which doesn’t carry Super League factors, straight after the T20 World Cup. Alex Carey will doubtless be a frontrunner for the job having stood in for Finch final yr, though whether or not Finch additionally winds up in T20s after the World Cup can be one other issue if Australia need to have the identical captain throughout codecs. Carey just isn’t at the moment a part of the T20 facet.
A return for Smith might be an possibility whereas Mitchell Marsh might come into consideration. An outsider might be Josh Hazlewood who has held the vice-captaincy and is now one of many main white-ball bowlers on this planet. Glenn Maxwell’s identify will even doubtless be thrown into the combination.
Test captain Pat Cummins has beforehand indicated that taking over one other management function would in all probability be too demanding. There can also be the issue that it’s restricted-overs cricket that he’ll typically be rested from.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo