Explosive allrounder Glenn Maxwell is adamant the nickname has to go, along with the perception he’s not a red-ball cricketer.
Dubbed The Big Show by former Australian teammate Matthew Wade, Maxwell is desperate to use his Sheffield Shield appearances for Victoria to push his claims for a return to Test cricket.
The 25-year-old admits he needs to lose his reputation as a Twenty20 and one-day player – and fast.
“At the moment I haven’t really played a lot of red-ball cricket,” he told reporters at Bellerive, where the Bushrangers are taking on Tasmania.
“I haven’t put a whole lot of big hundreds on the board, so there’s a few things working against me.
“I need to change that perception really fast.”
Maxwell commanded a $1 million Indian Premier League contract earlier this year, which only added to the perception he wasn’t a long-form player.
The nickname didn’t help either.
“It spun out of control pretty quickly,” he said.
“I desperately tried to shrug it off but the thing is when you fight nicknames like that that you don’t like, people just keep running with it.
“I’m trying to ignore it now and hopefully it disappears soon and I can just be called Maxy.”
The 25-year-old made his Test debut during Australia’s ill-fated tour of India in March, averaging just 9.75 with the bat and 27.57 with the ball in two matches.
But he says his approach has changed since smashing an unbeaten 155 for Australia A in South Africa earlier this year.
He plans to play in Victoria’s four Shield games before the break for the Big Bash League, and hasn’t completely given up on playing a part in the Ashes series getting underway next week.
“The only thing I can really look forward to, if there was something ion the horizon, is fourth and fifth Tests if the first three don’t go too well,” he said.
“A lot of things have got to go wrong in Australian cricket for me to get back I think.”
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