Aaron Finch: 'Huge' England vs Australia rivalry remains despite lack of fans

Australia captain Aaron Finch says his team’s rivalry with England will lose none of its edge because there will be no crowd at their opening T20 meeting tomorrow evening.

Australia play their first fixture since the Covid-19 pandemic brought sport to a halt with a three-match T20 series at the Ageas Bowl, followed by three ODIs in Manchester from next Friday.

"The England-Australia rivalry is always huge, regardless of who you’re playing in front of or where you’re playing," said Finch. "I think you could play it in the street and it’d still be there. It’s just a great rivalry.

"The fact the stands are going to be empty will be a bit different. I think a few of our guys will appreciate it a little bit more than others, but at the same time we’ve probably spent 90 per cent of our careers playing in front of no one, from club cricket, junior cricket, even State cricket at times, so it doesn’t change too much."

Finch said Australia’s heavy defeat in last year’s World Cup semi-final — the teams’ last white-ball meeting — had left no scars on his side.

"They blew us out of the water," he said. "It was a tough day, but a different format, so we aren’t holding any scars over that."

England are without Ben Stokes, who is in New Zealand, and Jason Roy (side strain) and can likely only accommodate two of Tom Banton, Dawid Malan and Sam Billings in their batting order.

They are set to include Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood for the first time this summer.

Finch also said the players would not be making a "specific gesture" for the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia’s first match since the death of George Floyd.

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