Glenn Maxwell will decide the fate of Australia at the upcoming World T20 in India. On dry Indian decks, the Aussies will rely heavily both on his off spin and his rare ability to destroy slow bowlers with the blade.
As we saw in the two T20 losses against India this week, Australia still have a significant weakness against spin.
In the last World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014, their opponents stacked their line-ups with tweakers to exploit the inability of the Australian batsmen to score freely against slow bowlers.
At times in that tournament, teams opened the bowling with two spinners against Australia and similar tactics can be expected again in India.
In Bangladesh, Australia won just one of their four games, that against the host, resulting in an early exit from the tournament. George Bailey, Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, Cameron White and David Warner all laboured against spin, leaving Australia’s batting impotent.
Maxwell was Australia’s standout player in that World Cup, making 147 runs from just 70 balls faced.
He was the only Australian who consistently got after the slow bowlers, either by using his feet or unfurling his devastating slog sweep.
Maxwell carried that form into the following Indian Premier League season, making 552 runs at 35, at the sensational strike rate of 188.
Steve Smith may be Australia’s most renowned player of spin, but no Australian strikes terror into the hearts of opposition tweakers like Maxwell. When he is in full flow, he is capable of vaporising even the world’s elite spinners.
His middle-order ballistics can drastically change the course of a T20 game in the space of 10 minutes.
While Maxwell won’t be able to do it all on his own, as evidenced in the 2014 World Cup, if Australia are to make an unlikely push for the Cup he will need to be on fire.
Openers David Warner and Aaron Finch both are highly accomplished players, but are susceptible to getting tied down by canny spinners.
Australia will hope that they can target opposition tweakers via Maxwell, Smith and Usman Khawaja, who has become a fine player of slow bowlers.
Fresh from winning Australia’s ODI player of the year this week, Maxwell has blossomed as an international cricketer.
His brilliant campaign in the 2015 World Cup, in which he was named in the team of the tournament, confirmed that he is a big occasion performer.
His considerable experience in the IPL should stand him in good stead in the coming tournament. Maxwell will, however, have to rebound from an awful 2015 IPL season during which averaged 13 with the bat and took just two wickets.
In the World T20, Australia will need him not to just rush through an over or two each match but to be a regular wicket taker in spin-friendly conditions. Maxwell’s bowling record in T20s is poor, with 50 wickets at 32.
He is a better spinner than those figures suggest, however, and has become a key bowler for Australia in ODIs, sometimes playing as their sole tweaker.
In his past 32 ODIs, Maxwell has snared 30 wickets at 30 – solid figures for any spinner, let alone a batting all-rounder.
With Australia’s attack weakened massively by the injuries to Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile – probably their three best T20 bowlers – their spinners will carry a heavy burden in India.
Without a star turn from Maxwell, Australia are no hope of lifting the World T20 trophy for the first time.
knowall
Guest
I acknowledge the fact that he is an abject failure
knowall
Guest
Where does commentator O'Connell get his rubbish from - "cant win without Maxwell"- what a load of tripe. Maxwell got another duck when runs were needed. Smith thinks so much of him as a bowler that he gave him 3 overs. Although he is a great fieldsman h e is not in for his fielding. Wake up Ronan and admit Maxwell is a failure. We should have selected Sean Marsh and Watson ahead of many others.
Don Freo
Guest
Don't get too drawn into the myth of spin. Some of the fastest bowlers in the world come from the subcontinent now. Apart from India, who do you think has an armory of spinners? NZ? South Africa? England(teehee)? There are teams with individual spinners but they only get to bowl 4 overs. The rest are boundary fodder.
Don Freo
Guest
Craig, how about identifying the circumstances of those innings. T20s? ODIs? 3 for nothing? 3 for lots? You can't just reel off numbers and then dismiss a 96 as insignificant. You seem to suggest that all the shots in that innings do not reflect talent. Have we ever seen Craig Swanson and David Lord in the same room? I know I haven't.
Craig Swanson
Guest
As it is in India I would be taking a spin heavy attack. The more options on turning decks the better. Would prefer wrist spin over finger spin. So my specialists would be Boyce, Fawad or Zampa.. with Maxwell, Smith and Head to provide some part time options.I see only Mitchell Starc's absence as being a loss. His lethal yorker has been sorely missed in the ODI and T20 games. The others we can cover.
Craig Swanson
Guest
As it is in India I would be taking a spin heavy attack. The more options on turning decks the better. Would prefer wrist spin over finger spin. So my specialists would be Boyce, Fawad or Zampa.. with Maxwell, Smith and Head to provide some part time options.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Bollinger? Take a pill. Paris or Rainbird if we must have a leftie. Khawaja is a lock in. Some are saying Lynn is a must. I say no as he is a poor player of spin. We want at least competent players of spin. Blokes that use all the crease and their feet rather than those that simply plant their foot and slog. Would not last five minutes on Indian turners.
Craig Swanson
Guest
I have not seen Maxwell vaporiszing many spinners lately. Come off it. Other than his rare 96 when he used his reverse and slog weep to good effect he has put scores of 6, 26, 1, 41, 3 on the board all against India and spin twins Ashwin and Adeja. Not a lot of vaporizing there. The bloke is grossly overated. People just will not acknowledge that fact.
Andy Hill
Roar Pro
Spot on Rob. That would be my starting XI for the world cup. Unfortunately, Agar doesnt seem to be on their radar, having not been selected for any squad recently. And it looks like Bancroft is favored over Handscomb for the keepers spot.
Matth
Guest
Really? Doesn't feel that way. Must be tests where we struggle. Well that's great, maybe we should simply pick the players who contributed to this wins (who are still around)
Nudge
Guest
Wow that's an amazing stat, especially when you consider we haven't had a gun spinner in all that time
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"Let’s face it. We rarely win in India in any format." Not true...Australia have an 18-10 win-loss record in ODIs in India over the past 10 years.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
I can't agree about Mitch Marsh, he'll be fodder in India in T20s, but the experience would be good for him.:) In other words, squad not first 11 unless injuries take out another pace all-rounder.
Matth
Guest
Let's face it. We rarely win in India in any format. So everything would have to go right to be a chance. I see India and West Indies as the favorites. We need more bowling firepower but I guess we are stuck with what we have. If Finch is gone them I'd go with: Warner S Marsh Smith Bailey Maxwell Watson M Marsh Agar Not Wade (I'm not picky, any one will do) Hazlewood Tye Zampa Khawaja Hastings Bollinger I think Doug the Rug as a leftie with experience is about the best we can do on the bench. If Finch is fit, then S Marsh to the bench and Khawaja out. Everyone is on the Khawaja train but: - we've seen from Lynn and Head that international cricket is a step up from BBL - finch cops a lot but he has the second best average in T20 and we need someone to steady the ship. If he's out S Marsh can perform that role and he has extensive IPL experience.
Matth
Guest
The Australian management has no clue who our best T20 players are (we play so little), so really have no choice but to experiment. Either that or we just don't care.
Nudge
Guest
I'm with you on Bailey Jammel, I'd pick him for sure. Great player of spin. With all our bowlers out I think we need to take big risks to have any chance. If Finch is out i'd move Watson to opener. I know he's been ordinary of late, but 2 years ago he was the best opener in world cricket in this format. I'd also take the big gamble on Tait. He has a heap of experience in Indian conditions and loves the place. If everything happened to click at the right time over there for him he could be a match winner. Warner Watson Khawaja Smith Maxwell Bailey Mitch Marsh Paine Zampa Hazlewood Tye Res Tait Faulkner Shaun Marsh Doherty
ajay
Guest
Behrendorff ruled out for atleast 4 months and Lyon no thanks Boyce is good enough and last world cup bailey was failure Lynn should be in t20 squad.agreed ludeman ahead of hapless useless,wade.
jammel
Guest
I'd personally like to see Bailey get a run - ahead of Head and even Lynn (massive fan of Lynn's work though). I think Bailey's cool head and experience in India will be invaluable in the middle order - that's where everything's been falling apart for us when chasing of late. If there's no Finch or Starc, I'd be going with the following XI: Warner Khawaja SmithC Maxwell Bailey Watson Ludeman+ Faulkner Zampa Tye Behrendorff Reserves: SMarsh MMarsh Lyon Hazlewood
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Mitch Marsh can farm the strike. Watson not quite so much, but anyway, Maxie should be coming in at 3. He never gets bogged down.
jammel
Guest
Yep - agreed Viv on the injury front. It is just amazing how many of our quicks are injured - seemingly there's 4 or 5 injured at any given time. And here I was thinking that the supposed all rounders in all our teams were meant to stop this….