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There is no clearer example that Cricket Australia and the senior group who deemed it fit to fine Glenn Maxwell for his comments have lost the plot.
Whether, you agree or disagree with Maxwell’s comments, the reality he has been fined for speaking his mind.
How dare he voice an opinion in this sanitised world with Australian cricketers seemingly required to toe the corporate line in every uttered word to the media.
In context, Maxwell simply voiced his disappointment at batting below Matthew Wade in the Sheffield Shield. It obviously carries a narcissistic undertone and no doubt he would have been better served not airing his grievance in public. But so what?
Do we now live in a world, where we are to assume all is well among cricketers vying for Test selection. It is a competitive business and these are young men with ambition and egos that need massaging.
Maxwell, in his defence, does have a marginally higher first class average than Wade but his case is not that compelling. Wade has nine first class centuries to Maxwell’s five and you do get the feeling that he has already pigeon holed as a ODI and T20 player.
It would also seem he is not on Lehman’s selection radar at Test level.
But none of that really matters, he has a view and bravely and stupidly expressed it.
What is of greater interest is the overreaction and the need to fine someone for expressing an opinion and under what contractual obligation is Maxwell is required to pay it? Has he brought the game into disrepute, no, he has simply ostracised himself from his teammates and upset his State Captain. You make your bed and lie in it and that’s where it should have been left.
Instead a fine ensues and in a year of challenges for Cricket Australia another negative story continues to breath.
Laughable really but what is really more laughable is that Wade and Maxwell seem to assume where they bat in the Sheffield Shield has any serious bearing. Maxwell is not one of the best six batsmen in the country and his bowling is not good enough to secure an all-rounder spot.
As for Wade, he is lucky to be back in and will need runs to stay in. That is no given and my prediction Nevill will return.
This will allow Wade and Maxwell to return to the humdrum of the Sheffield Shield, take the gloves off and have a good old fashioned ‘punch up’ at the back of the pavilion for the coveted number five spot before common sense prevails and everyone realises Cameron White should be batting there in the first place.
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