I fully take responsibility for the omission, says Glenn Maxwell
Aug 4, 2016 at 6:45 PM
Glenn Maxwell was a notable omission from Australia’s 15-man squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, but the all-rounder has taken the snub in a positive manner and has vowed to prove the selectors wrong. The all-rounder is currently playing for Australia A in their two four-day matches against South Africa A in Queensland.
Maxwell had scored just 59 runs in his last seven ODI innings. In Australia’s World Cup-winning campaign in 2015 he scored 324 runs at an average of 64.80 and strike rate of 182.02 but since then he’s racked up 396 runs in his last 16 innings.
“I’ve taken it pretty well. I think having this opportunity (playing for Australia A) at the same time softens the blow a little bit,” Maxwell told the media in Townsville on Thursday (August 4). “It gives you an opportunity to prove them (selectors) wrong or show them that you really want to be back there.
“The silver lining is to come up to Queensland and get on turf and out of the indoor setup. It is hard work to work on your game indoors because it becomes easy and a bit boring.”
Despite being one of the key players in Australia’s ODI team in recent years, Maxwell backed the selector’s decision and took the responsibility for the surprise omission.
“No, I think they (selectors) showed enough (loyalty), if you look at the last 10 ODIs I didn’t score enough runs,” he said. “If you’re in the top six, then you’re a batting all-rounder first and I probably didn’t score as many runs as I could have. I fully take responsibility for that and have made sure I’ve moved on.”
Talking about playing in the four-days games, Maxwell said: “I’ve been in really good form in that format over the past few years,” he said. “Statistically, it is my best format, which people don’t seem to grasp very well.”
However, the all-rounder had a poor outing during the first game against South Africa A where he scored 0 and a quickfire 38 but the all-rounder said that he is currently concentrating on getting big scores rather than short cameos with the willow.
“It’s about accumulating big totals and not the flashy stuff,” he said. “I was too eager to get bat on the ball (in the first innings). I want to show what I did the last two Shield seasons and score lots of runs.”