Glenn Maxwell proves he's 'smart' to Steve Smith in Australia's win over England

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  • Glenn Maxwell has no doubt D'Arcy Short was not out.

    “Just looking at the way he trains, I think he could train a little bit smarter,” the words of Australia Test and ODI captain Steve Smith last month when it was announced Glenn Maxwell was overlooked for the five-match 50-over series against England.

    Funny, that. Maybe the country’s selectors should have been a bit smarter and picked him. One thing’s for sure, they certainly would have been smarting after that 4-1 drubbing.

    After smashing a match-winning 103 not out in just 58 balls in the five-wicket Trans-Tasman T20 Series victory over the old enemy on Wednesday, there was Smith, who is playing no part in the series, again – tweeting: “Well played @Gmaxi_32 top drawer!”. The first reply was: “Imagine if he was a smarter trainer”.

    And there lies a key point. Cricket is a sport in which sometimes you have to look beyond performances in monotonous net sessions or back those that just tow the PR-spun line of the skipper. The game needs mavericks, as they are often match-winners who can turn things on its head. Maxwell will always be one of those and when he’s batting with a point to prove, you feel sorry for the opposition.

    Below-par Australia were crying out for someone of his stupendous hitting ability in the ODI series, someone who could come in and blast the opposition out of the ground. Delhi Daredevils, the IPL team which snapped up the 29-year-old for $1.75 million (Dh5.5m), certainly didn’t miss a trick and see the Victorian as a key part of their plans.

    While of course Maxwell had an element of luck, being dropped twice during his innings in Hobart, which was his second T20I ton and elevated his strike-rate to 166.72, the cliche goes that you make your own. He also became the first man to score a century and take three wickets in T20I cricket. Pretty handy indeed.

    The way Maxwell dealt with the threat of Adil Rashid’s leg-spin is something we have seldom seen of late from Australia’s batsmen in limited-overs cricket – he picked him with ease. Along with Colin Munro, he and Maxwell are the only two batsmen in the world who average over 25 with the bat as well as a strike-rate of 150 plus in 20-over cricket. These type of players don’t grow on trees.

    Australia must get Maxwell, a man of 81 ODIs, back into their 50-over ranks ahead of next year’s World Cup.

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