Finch to continue batting lower as Australia tinker T20 strategy

Australia's white-ball captain and longtime opening batsman, Aaron Finch, could bat as low as five if needed, the 35-year-old said as the team experiments with strategies ahead of its Twenty20 World Cup defence on home soil this year.

The T20 World Cup is set to be played in October-November, with Australia beginning their title defence with a rematch of last year's final against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.

Finch said he will stay at the No. 3 spot for the fourth T20 match against Sri Lanka on Friday but is willing to slide further down the batting order for the final match on Sunday or even in the upcoming tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"I'm pretty flexible with where I can bat in the order," Finch told reporters on Thursday. "Potentially five in the next couple of games, but the coach (Andrew McDonald) isn't too excited about that prospect."

"There's a lot of talk about (strategy) behind the scenes between myself and the coaching staff," he added. "We're just trying a few different combinations to see where we land and get a bit more information with the World Cup (this year)."

Finch added that Australia are eager to give Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade as much game-time batting at six and seven as they can ahead of the World Cup.

"You always tend to have an eye towards ICC events and the fact that the final is here and that it's my that's my home ground personally (is significant)," Finch said. "You can think about it and dream about it. But the reality of it's a little bit (far away) still."

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru. Editing by Gerry Doyle)