Victorian allrounder Glenn Maxwell had a million reasons to celebrate on Sunday despite being dismissed for a first-ball duck in Australia’s one-day clash with the West Indies at the WACA Ground.
Maxwell was bought for $US1 million ($A960,800) at Sunday’s Indian Premier League auction, with Ricky Ponting ($400,000) and Phil Hughes ($100,000) also joining him at the Mumbai Indians.
Other Australians to get snapped up included Test skipper Michael Clarke ($400,000 to Pune Warriors), Luke Pomersbach ($300,000 to Kings XI Punjab), James Faulkner ($400,000 to Rajasthan Royals), Moises Henriques ($300,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Dirk Nannes ($600,000 to Chennai Super Kings).
But it was Maxwell who enjoyed the best pay day of the lot, despite starting with a reserve price of just $200,000.
The 24-year-old’s star is definitely on the rise after being selected in Australia’s 17-man squad for the upcoming Test tour of India.
But it wasn’t all good news for Maxwell, who made a duck against the West Indies after chopping Darren Sammy onto his stumps.
cantab
Guest
Jesus, no, I have no explanation.
JGK
Roar Guru
Does anything explain Kane Richardson at $700k while Philander and Cutting both got passed in for $100k?
cantab
Guest
The decision made in these auctions are really odd, Sure Maxwell deserves a contract but at 1m??? Ponting went for 400K?? I'm not a Ponting hater but the guy was never much of T20 player. There are heaps of guys out there which you could pick up for 100K who are really good value for money such as Scott Styris and Martin Guptill (from little NZ alone, and obviously a ton more around the world) Some of these owners really need to watch Moneyball.
cantab
Guest
yes McCullum does keep at 20/20 level, though doesn't keep at Test level because his back can't hack it. He is currently signed to the Kolkata knight riders and therefore not eligible for auction.
Sanjay
Guest
I think when the tournament ends Mumbai bosses will be firing their player scouts for paying 3 times the amount they should have paid for Maxwell.
Gordon smith
Guest
This might be a mixed blessing for him. As a young man it sets him up to build a fanatical foundation for his life so is a good thing. On the other hand carrying the weight of being the highest paid despite being untested has the potential to crush him and impact on his future cricket career.
Justin2
Guest
Yeah but Wade and McCullum are perfect, destructive batsmen who can also keep well.
Matt F
Roar Guru
It does seem a a bit strange. I can only guess that franchises already had keepers on their rosters so didn't need any in this years auction. I'm pretty sure that McCullum already has an IPL contact
JGK
Roar Guru
I reckon the keeping role in T20s will more and more go to batsman who can keep part time. We've saw a bit of that this summer with Quiney and Hussey. So unless you have a Narine or other mystery spinner in the side, the value of a good keeper is pretty limited if it's at the cost of batting power.
Red Kev
Guest
It is odd that no wicketkeepers were signed either. I have no idea if that is accurate but I did read it in one of the articles. Wade and Prior were both overlooked, I have no idea if McCullum keeps in T20s and was bought or not.
Matt F
Roar Guru
I imagine they were thinking that he's a good T20 player, which he is. A million dollars is too high but it's no real surprise that he got a good price. The bigger mystery is how one team was willing to spend 400k on Ponting yet nobody wanted to spend 200k on Finch, who is clearly the better T20 player of the two.
Neil
Guest
Indeed, it is a joke. What were they thinking?
razza
Guest
What a joke, it just goes to show that there is too much money in cricket also, i hope the but was not made on his first one day match against the West Indies, if it was i bet the buyers heart sunk when they saw his early dismisal in the second match. Thats cricket.