Australia coach Andrew McDonald has strongly come to the defence of under-fire captain Aaron Finch as the hosts' Twenty20 World Cup defence remains alive.
Melbourne's rainy weather denied Australia a chance to pit themselves against England on Friday night, with the hyped MCG clash abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Finch, who endured a painfully slow innings in Tuesday night's win against Sri Lanka, was unable to respond to critics like legendary Australia captain Allan Border who have called for Steve Smith to replace him in the XI.
McDonald conceded Test star Smith remains in contention to return in the shortest form of the game but has backed Finch to finish off the tournament on a high.
"(Finch) was selected for the team, he's our captain, so I think that says everything about the way that we internally view where he's at," McDonald told reporters.
"He didn't have his greatest night (against Sri Lanka) and he's been pretty forthright in his views on that, but it's T20 cricket, and that can happen.
"The beauty of a team is if one's not functioning to the full capacity you've potentially got some teammates around who are."
Smith is yet to play in the World Cup, with inexperienced allrounder Tim David preferred, but is a chance to play in remaining games against Ireland and Afghanistan.
"We've got 15 players in our squad, it's a challenge to pick 11," McDonald said.
"The surface and the opposition probably shift our thinking in what that looks like.
"He's definitely come up in conversations, there's a role there for him."
Australia will head into Monday night's game against Ireland fourth in Group 1, before their final match on Friday against Afghanistan on Friday.
They need to win both of those games and rely on New Zealand beating England to advance to the semi-finals.
