Aaron Finch was in fine form during the Australians’ uptick in the limited-overs portion of the tour. In the fourth game of the one-day series, he equalled the national record for fastest half-century in an ODI, notching his 50 in 18 balls. He shares the record with a pair of fellow Victorians: Glenn Maxwell, who set his mark against India in 2013, and Simon O’Donnell’s 1990 hit-out against Sri Lanka in Sharjah.

Finch, however, broke his right index while fielding a ball during the match. “The fracture is at the top of the finger, so luckily it hasn’t gone through the joint. It should be healed in time for the first ODI against South Africa,” he said.

“It’s just a bit of an inconvenience, more than anything. I suppose I’ll have to try and have a few hits with it. It’ll be OK if I hit the middle of the bat, but obviously it’s quite tough to hit that every time. It’ll just be something where I have to wear a guard and suck up the pain from time to time.”

While he couldn’t play, Finch stayed on as 12th man in Sri Lanka, and had a close-up view of Maxwell just falling short of breaking his record T20 international mark of 156. Maxwell’s 145 powered the Aussies to an unbelievable total of 263.

“It was brilliant, something we all know he’s got in him,” Finch says. “I think he’s got close in T20 a few times with a few 90s. But to get the opportunity to open the batting on the back of my finger injury – I know he’s been disappointed at being in and out of the one-day team the last six months – for him to bounce back, it was phenomenal to watch. It was as clean hitting as you’ll ever see.”

James Faulkner and Shaun Marsh will miss the South African tour because of injury, but Steve Smith will return. The first match of the five-game series is in Centurion on September 30.