A solidly-built, aggressive batsman from the country town of Colac in south-west Victoria, Aaron Finch wrote himself a place in the history books when he made a Twenty20 world-record 156 against England in 2013, an innings which also included a record 14 sixes. The following year, Finch was named Australia's T20 captain to replace George Bailey, but on the eve of the 2016 World T20 in India the selectors decided to consolidate the captaincy of all three formats and handed the job to Steven Smith. Finch at the time was the No.1-ranked T20 international batsman in the world, but found himself suddenly struggling to hold on to his place in the side. For some time Finch had been an automatic selection in Australia's ODI and T20 teams, and had set the tone for their triumphant 2015 World Cup with 135 in their opening match against England at the MCG.

Move forward three years, amid a meltdown in Australian cricket centered around the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands, and Finch found himself installed as the national white-ball captain and with Test caps to his name. Although Finch has been a dominating figure as an opener in the shorter formats, he struggled to find his place in first-class cricket. Victoria did not always view Finch as being in their preferred Sheffield Shield batting order, and nearly three years came between his second and third first-class centuries from 2011 to 2014. He piled on an unbeaten 288 against New Zealand in a tour match in Blacktown in 2015-16, although that match was ultimately abandoned as the New Zealanders complained about the condition of the pitch.

Finch remained an in-demand T20 cricketer and in 2016 joined the Gujarat Lions, his sixth IPL franchise. After a lean run in ODIs around the 2016 Champions Trophy, which threatened his place, he then went on a run of four centuries (three against England) in 10 matches to firm himself as one of Australia's key one-day batsman. His first two Tests showed some promise, but that remained a work in progress.

ESPNcricinfo staff