Australia limited-overs captain Aaron Finch hopes his team can bring some joy to cricket fans in Sri Lanka amid the island nation’s worst financial crisis in over seven decades, the 35-year-old said on Friday.
Australia's cricketers had voiced some ethical concerns about the situation in Sri Lanka, where demonstrations have roiled the country since late March, but they arrived on Wednesday for eight limited-overs matches and two tests over the next six weeks.
“We are here to play cricket. Hopefully, we can bring some joy, some entertainment to Sri Lanka … This is the first time we’re here since 2016, which is such a long gap,” he said. “It’s such a special place to tour. The hospitality that you get here, the friendliness, and their love for the game is unbelievable.” The protests and frequent power cuts as a result of the economic crisis has led to some questions over day-night games.
Asked if they were confident about those games, Finch said: It’s well and truly above my pay grade. But all that stuff was ticked off between the two boards and the governments before the tour went ahead.
“Whether they shift the games to day games, I’m not sure what’s going to happen … but over the last week or so, I haven’t heard any complaints (from teammates).” Australia begin their tour on Tuesday with the first of their three Twenty20 matches against a Sri Lanka team ranked ninth in this format.
Finch, who led Australia to their maiden T20 World Cup title last year, ruled out any complacency against a home side containing batter Kushal Men dis and spinner Waning Kesäranta.
“We had a couple of close series against them … they are a very dangerous side,” Finch said.
“If you just look at the top order, you’ve got Kushal there who can be as damaging as anyone on his day and obviously Kesäranta has had an unbelievable couple of years in T20 cricket.” With his hat-trick against Peru in the World Cup qualifier, Neymar took his national team goal tally to 64. He surpassed his country’s celebrated striker Ronaldo (62) and is now just 13 goals behind the legendary Pele. Considering that he’s only 28, it would be surprising if he doesn’t eclipse Pele in the imminent future. However, for all his skills, trickery and numbers, he is not counted among the greatest of all time, a rarefied space Pele and Ronaldo inhabit. The nimble-footed Brazilian combines European technicality and Brazilian flair in his play. He is exceptional with both feet, has a terrific header, scores from free-kicks and can conjure a moment of magic from nothing. Lionel Messi considers him his spiritual successor and the future talisman at Barcelona. But he has his flaws. The Brazilian star has a tendency to squander straightforward chances. He is also prone to tumble down at the slightest of touches, forget a tackle. So far, he has failed to make an impact on big games, like the quarterfinal against Belgium in the World Cup or the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich. This is the biggest hole in his CV, and also the reason he hasn’t been as popular as Ronaldo or Pele on terraces in Brazil. Historically, Brazil judges its footballers not by their club stature, but with the number of World Cups they have won.
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