Australia’s Marcus Stoinis happy to be brought into the attack early by Aaron Finch

• Australia beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in Bristol in their opening match of the tournament
• Marcus Stoinis chipped in with two wickets as Australia bowled Afghanistan out for 207

Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis said he had enjoyed his role bowling early in the Afghanistan innings as captain Aaron Finch switched his bowlers around frequently in his team’s seven wickets win over Afghanistan in Bristol.

Stoinis picked up two wickets with his medium-pacers from eight overs after Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had dismissed both openers without scoring. Selected to fill the number seven spot, he was not required to bat.

Asked if the ball had still been hard when he took up the attack, Stoinis replied: “Yeah it was and there was still a little bit of swing as well, which is unusual. Apparently it hasn’t been swinging here.”

Stoinis said he expected the pitches to be batsman friendly during the tournament, although he added it was still early in the competition.

“I think you’ve got to be cagey with your variations, with your field. Perhaps my yorker, it’s going to be needed at some stage in the tournament. Then you make sure that you’re competing, putting energy on the ball as much as you can.”

He also praised opener David Warner, who was unbeaten on 89 at the close of play after an uncharacteristically slow start.

“I liked that knock, just do what needs to be done for the team. Perfect to be not out, get the job done, nice and clinical. That’s what the best players do, they have off-days and they still make 80 odd not out, 90 not out.

“Good start for him good to spend that time in the middle. you have to do for it the team. Davy is a determined individual every single day. I don’t think that will change.

“I thought it was a good wicket, maybe a bit two-paced but like a good wicket. They bowled pretty well too, they’ve got good spinners, they bowled pretty well with the new ball too.

Asked if Finch had been consulting with former captain Steve Smith on his return to the team, Stoinis replied:“I’m sure he’s talking to him, I haven’t spoken to him about it. You’d be silly not to call on those guys, there’s probably about six, seven players that have enough experience to know what’s going out there. So Finchy is good enough to call on a bit of advice and make his own decision.”