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February 2, 2013
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Ashley Mallett : Maxwell could be Australia's X-factor
Players/Officials:
Glenn Maxwell
Matches:
Australia v West Indies at Perth
Series/Tournaments:
Australia tour of India
| West Indies tour of Australia
Teams:
Australia
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Glenn Maxwell might be the very model of the modern cricketer, raised on Twenty20 and thriving on the short format's fast pace, but he insists he has the patience to make it as a Test cricketer as well. On Thursday, Maxwell was named as the main spinning allrounder in Australia's Test squad to tour India, meaning he is likely to earn a baggy green on the trip, and the following day he crunched an unbeaten 51 from 35 balls in Australia's one-day annihilation of West Indies.
Promoted to open the batting Maxwell scored nearly three-quarters of Australia's runs in their tiny chase of 71, racing to the target within the first ten overs. Maxwell's brisk scoring is nothing new to those who have watched him at domestic level over the past few seasons, but he has also managed to average 42 at first-class level and believes his technique can stand up to the challenges of the five-day game.
"I feel like I'm definitely a genuine batsman," Maxwell said in Perth ahead of Sunday's second ODI. "I've done a lot of work on my technique over the last few years. [Victoria coach] Greg Shipperd has been a big believer in my technique and I feel that's shone through in Shield cricket.
"I've played some good Shield innings where I've played technically really good cricket. I'm hoping I can showcase that when the opportunity arises, but yesterday wasn't really the time to do it. I'm sure if I get the chance to play Test cricket I'll probably be a bit more reserved."
Maxwell has spent some time in India in the past, visiting the country in 2010 for a training camp as part of the Centre of Excellence intake, and enjoying a short stint with the Delhi Daredevils in last year's IPL. He said his plan, if he was given the opportunity in Test cricket on the upcoming tour, would be straightforward.
"I've thought about how I'm going to be playing spinners over there," he said. "I've been lucky enough to play over there a little bit, I had the Academy a couple of years ago and had the IPL experience last year. I know my game plan over there is going to be pretty simple, using my feet against the spinners and hopefully that will hold me in good stead."
Although Maxwell is considered a batting allrounder, his offspin has developed over the past few months and the selectors would expect significant overs from him if he was slotting into the Test outfit. Maxwell said he had worked with Shane Warne this summer on the mental side of spin bowling, as well as Ray Bright and Shawn Flegler, and he was confident that the sharp turn expected on the Indian pitches would allow him greater margin for error.
"With the wickets and the way they spin, you can bowl a lot faster over there and really use your pace variations to your advantage," Maxwell said. "In Australia you've got to be a lot more accurate, a lot more consistent in a certain area, where India allows you a lot more margin for error just because of the way it spins."
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Assistant Editor Possibly the only person to win a headline-writing award for a title with the word "heifers" in it, Brydon decided agricultural journalism wasn't for him when he took up his position with ESPNcricinfo in Melbourne. His cricketing career peaked with an unbeaten 85 in the seconds for a small team in rural Victoria on a day when they could not scrounge up 11 players and Brydon, tragically, ran out of partners to help him reach his century. He is also a compulsive TV game-show contestant and has appeared on half a dozen shows in Australia.
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Dean Jones wrote an interesting piece about GM in The Age on Saturday. His view is that GM's long term future is as a bowling all rounder rather than batting, which is how he sees himself. Dean Jones would have seen more of GM than anyone posting here and really rates his ability to give the ball a real rip. He also likened GM ti Ian Harvey which was exactly what I thought after seeing him bat in the last couple of matches. i think if he is going to play a lot of test matches for Australia though he will either need to be good enough to be the leading spinner or play as a batting all rounder as I can't see an off spinning. bowling all rounder becoming a regular selection. i think he is a better selection for the tour than Doherty. I would have had O'Keefe ahead of him every day of the week.
If Maxwell could improve on his spin bowling and prove himself as a fine batsman as well then he could be Australia's number one spinner and allrounder. He could replace both Lyon and Doherty in the side in both tests and limited overs cricket which would give us the option to include another batsman or bowler according to the circumstances. His position in the batting lineup should also vary accordingly. No doubt it would be a tremendous boost to the team since he is an excellent close in fielder as well. It remains to be seen whether he could fulfill his potential as a fine allrounder.
Is it April 1st already?
Glenn Maxwell? So Glen Maxwell will save australia?
Posted by riprock on (February 3, 2013, 8:07 GMT)Say hello to the future of Australian cricket. Aggression, exuberance of youth, versatality in the field... And, most importantly, can SPIN the ball coming from there!
Posted by Kelum_w on (February 3, 2013, 6:46 GMT)Maxwell is a good cricketer but is a long way from playing in tests. In-fact apart from Clarke all the other batsman have technical faults that can be easily exploited by a good bowling lineup or a testing wicket. SA showed it this summer and the coming India and Ashes tours will show how capable these batsman really are.
Posted by ygkd on (February 3, 2013, 5:22 GMT)Did Maxwell have a reserved seat in the pavillion while batting in the first two ODIs, for it seemed that he couldn't wait to get back there. First game it worked when it hardly mattered, the second - well, it did matter and the less said about it, the better. That about sums up where Maxwell is curently at. One record-breakingly quick half-century does not a Test batting career make. He remains very much a work-in-progress and there are far too many of those already around the national team.
Posted by Moppa on (February 3, 2013, 3:39 GMT)@MrArmchairCricket, no, I have never seen Maxwell bat in the Shield. Don't need to. Rule 1: if you're not batting in the top 4 for your state, you're almost certainly not a Test class batsman. Rule 2: if you have to tell people you're a genuine batsman, you're not a genuine batsman. Maxwell's first-class numbers look OK, but the sample size is far too small. His numbers are similar to Steve Smith's, but over less innings, and when Smith was picked for Tests he was clearly not Test class. If we pick Maxwell for a Test we need to accept that we are consciously weakening our batting in exchange for whatever his bowling brings (like when we picked Smith). As in Smith's case, the 'whatever his bowling brings' is... 'not much'.
Posted by DanTas on (February 3, 2013, 1:42 GMT)Thanks MrArmchairCricket. I haven't seen him play "proper" cricket but it is good to know he can bat as a batsman should. His knock on Friday showed only that he had a reasonable eye and can slog in bizarre fashion. He's worth a risk cause he has attitude. Here's hoping he's our next Andrew Symonds.
Posted by pat_one_back on (February 3, 2013, 1:26 GMT)I can see the temptation with Maxwell, more so than Smith anyway... A bit harsh Essex man, walking in and tapping 2 boundaries in 2 balls to almost steal the T20, knocking the Windies around with disdain for the conditions to genuinely back up his 'take more risks' comments (for which many here belted him as a big mouth), you must have an awesome 2nd XI, half Sth African are they ;-)
Posted by Edwards_Anderson on (February 3, 2013, 0:51 GMT)Don't think he belongs at test level but we will find out in India. My opinion is that he is a good T20 player but he needs more time in shield before being bought into test level. A real shame that Mcdonald and Mitch Marsh are not fit enough.