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Glenn Maxwell deserved his ODI axing

3rd January, 2018
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Glenn Maxwell. (AAP Image/Mal Fairclough)
Expert
3rd January, 2018
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The Australian selectors were justified in dropping Glenn Maxwell from the ODI squad, but it was an odd choice to replace him with a cricketer who is not fully fit in Chris Lynn.

The decision to axe Maxwell from the squad to play England this month was framed by many media outlets as a shock. Yet it seemed like an obvious choice considering he has averaged just 20 with the bat in his past 21 matches, stretching back almost two years.

At his best, Maxwell is one of the most valuable ODI players in the world – a ballistic ball striker, dynamic fieldsman and handy bowler. He has a truly rare ability to obliterate quality bowlers, owning the second highest strike rate in ODI history.

This made him the perfect ‘icing on the cake’ middle order batsman in 2014 and 2015 when Australia’s top four was consistently firing. But over the past two years Australia’s batting has been less reliable and Maxwell, often batting at five, has regularly come to the crease with his team in poor shape.

The 29-year-old is not well suited to rebuilding an innings, although that doesn’t excuse his low output during that period. In moving to number three and piling up runs in the Sheffield Shield, Maxwell has shown that he is a versatile first-class batsman. He was unable to show the same development in ODIs and it has cost him his spot.

His cause also hasn’t been helped by captain Steve Smith’s bizarre reluctance to use him with the ball. When Smith took over as ODI captain two-and-a-half years ago, Maxwell was fresh from a dominant World Cup campaign in which he was named in the Team of the Tournament and operated as Australia’s main spinner.

Maxwell had developed into a solid ODI spinner, taking 29 wickets at an average of 26 between September 2014 and September 2015. But under Smith the off spinner has been barely used – in the past two years he has bowled only 1.6 overs per match, on average, and has not bowled at all in 12 of his last 16 matches.

Maxwell’s decline with the bat closely coincides with this massively reduced role with the ball. That’s still no excuse, though – he is talented enough to play as a specialist batsman but needs to find greater consistency.

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However, in replacing Maxwell with Lynn the selectors have made an odd choice.

Chris Lynn of the Heat raises his bat

(AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Lynn’s generous talent with the bat across all formats is clear. Just as obvious is his physical frailty, with Lynn having missed huge chunks of cricket due to injury since making his domestic debut seven years ago as a 19-year-old. Quite incredibly, it is more than four years since Lynn last played a domestic 50-over match.

He did not play in either the Shield of the domestic One Day Cup this summer before making his comeback from a persistent shoulder injury just eight days ago in the Big Bash League. While Lynn made an impact with the bat in his last BBL game, cracking 63 not out, he has looked ginger in the field, clearly still hampered by his shoulder and unable to throw properly.

Given there is nothing but pride riding on the five-match series against England it seems to make little sense to be rushing Lynn back into a longer format.

The controversy around the axing of Maxwell also distracted from the elevation to the ODI squad of Western Australia quicks Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye.

At just 21 years old, Richardson is one of the most exciting young talents in the country, an accurate and crafty paceman capable of bowling at 145km/h. He was the equal leading wicket-taker in the recent domestic One Day Cup with 13 wickets at 27 from seven matches.

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Tye also shone in that competition, with nine wickets at 17, and has an incredible List A record of 50 wickets at 21 from just 24 matches. The 31-year-old has made his name as a T20 bowler thanks to his befuddling array of variations. Tye has laboured in his seven T20Is for Australia, however, going at close to 10 runs per over while collecting six wickets at 38.

Both Tye and Richardson will be making their ODI debuts if they play against England. Their ascension to the ODI squad was helped by injuries to quality pacemen Jason Behrendorff and Nathan Coulter-Nile, the loss of form of James Faulkner, and the recent retirement from ODIs of John Hastings.

Australia ODI Squad
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

Australia’s Best XI
1. Aaron Finch
2. David Warner (vc)
3. Steve Smith (c)
4. Travis Head
5. Mitchell Marsh
6. Marcus Stoinis
7. Tim Paine
8. Mitchell Starc
9. Pat Cummins
10. Adam Zampa
11. Josh Hazlewood

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