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Feature

Birdman: or (the unexpected brilliance of Aaron Finch)

Plays of the Day from the Group A match between Australia and Afghanistan in Perth

Aaron Finch couldn't quite believe it after taking blinder  •  Associated Press

Aaron Finch couldn't quite believe it after taking blinder  •  Associated Press

Caveman 1, Stallion 0
The clash between the tall wild stallion and the thuggish caveman was not the great moment that some cricket fans wanted.The WACA pitch bounced, but it lacked the pace of the last match here. Shapoor Zadran's hair looked good, but he lacked the zip he had found in Dunedin and at the Manuka Oval. The closest he looked to taking David Warner's wicket was a strangle down the leg side, which they never even reviewed. Rightly. The next ball was short, and slow, and Warner mishit it over deep backward square for a boundary. It was less sexy than hoped.
Warner's half chance
Mohammad Nabi found some extra bounce, and he took the edge of Warner's bat. Afsar Zazai behind the stumps was hit on the chest; even his super-fast hands couldn't react in time. At that point, Warner had been scoring, but not destroying. The next two balls Warner faced went into the crowd. He had given Afghanistan half a chance, now he'd decided to cash in.
Warner attacks the whole ground
Warner soon got bored of beating up the Afghanistan bowlers, and took to the crowd. His sixes started attacking them with homing missile technology. Perhaps the worst was when a young boy watched on, as a fan dived in front of him. The young boy never quite noticed the ball was coming straight at him, and his father never even stopped his phone call. The ball smashed into the young boy's hand, knocking out some overpriced ICC approved food. The diving fan hit the floor. A little girl cried as the whole thing took place. They boy was shocked. One person on the floor, another one shocked and the last one crying. It was much like that on the field.
Mangal's double act
Nawroz Mangal receives an off-cutter from Mitch Marsh. It takes the inside edge, and hits him on the leg. There are some words from the Australians. Mangal is 9 off 16, and they feel the need to remind him of how bad he's played. The whole incident seems to wake him up. The next ball is slightly fuller, and slightly more hit into the WACA members. The one after is slightly fuller again, and this time Mangal hits it slightly onto the hill. He is suddenly 21 off 18.
The non-athlete's dive and grin
There are many athletic, brilliant movers in the Australian side. So when you saw second slip in mid air, mid superman, you could think of Warner, Smith, Clarke or Maxwell. But it wasn't them. It was Aaron Finch, who likes a pint and a decent feed, stretched out taking an absolute screamer. Finch got up from the turf, threw the ball in the air, didn't react much at all, and then as his team-mates came in, his face slowly released a sly grin knowing that he just made an awesome illegal clip on Youtube.

Jarrod Kimber is a writer for ESPNcricinfo. @ajarrodkimber