On his day, he can single-handedly win you matches, but on other days, he will be an utter disappointment. This has been the precise case of flamboyant Australian middle order batsman Glenn Maxwell. The right-hander has been a package of lethal destruction, but the ironic aspect has been that he hasn’t been able to do so, on a consistent basis.
Maxwell’s recent outings in the Caribbean read out underwhelming scores as he was dismissed cheaply by debutant spinner Tabraiz Shamsi in Australia’s game against South Africa. Even in Australia’s previous ODI assignment in New Zealand, Maxwell struggled miserably as he barely averaged in single digits throughout the series.
However, despite performing so feebly, the Victorian was backed by skipper Steve Smith for the upcoming games. “I know Glenn Maxwell’s form has been spoken about because he’s been a bit short of runs in one-day cricket, but he was unlucky against the Proteas. I used up our referral when I and Finchy thought it might have hit me outside the line or was missing the stumps, but unfortunately, I was out and we lost the review,” wrote Smith in his column for cricket.com.au.
“I don’t think Maxi was overly happy about that when he copped his decision, but that’s cricket. Finchy probably had three or four moments where he could have been out LBW but wasn’t, so you take the good with the bad,” Smith further added.
The Australian captain mentioned that Maxwell will have to do far more consistent in the near future. “Maxi works hard and he just needs to be a bit more consistent with the bat. Getting out in the middle in those situations, he has to find a way to get started and knock the ball around a little bit to get into his innings. He obviously hasn’t done that too well lately, and neither have I, which is frustrating,” mentioned Smith.