A month ago Glenn Maxwell scored 145 not out off 65 balls in a T20 match against Sri Lanka.
That innings at Pallekele has been surpassed by only one Australian player – Aaron Finch’s 156 versus England at Southampton in August 2013.
In the second and final T20 last month against Sri Lanka at Colombo, Maxwell made 66 off just 24 balls.
In that innings, he equalled the record he jointly held with David Warner for the fastest 50 by an Australian in a T20 – 18 balls.
Roll on a month and Maxwell is not in South Africa with the Australian ODI team. The role of the spinning all-rounder is being filled by Travis Head.
At just 22, the selectors have identified Head as being a long term prospect at international level. The South Australian selectors had already taken the remarkable step of appointing him Redbacks captain at 21, the youngest of all-time.
His meteoric rise to international limited-overs ranks came on the back of consistent performances for the Adelaide Strikers and Redbacks.
However, those performances have primarily been with the bat. Like Maxwell, that is the strength of his game.
To date, in his 32 career T20 games he has bowled just 18 overs, claiming 6 wickets at an economy rate of 8.8.
In his 42 career List A games he has bowled just 70 overs for seven wickets at 64 with an economy rate of 6.3.
In the current ODI series against South Africa, Australia’s bowling has been its Achilles heel.
With Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood being left at home to rest-up ahead of the forthcoming twin Test series against the Proteas and Pakistan and with the likes of James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson and Kane Richardson either injured or coming back from injury, Australia’s bowling stocks were always going to be thin.
Three debutants – Chris Tremain, Daniel Worrall and Jon Mennie – have all been thrown into the furnace against a quality batting line-up.
The trio had less than 60 List A wickets between them when they boarded the plane for South Africa.
Skipper Steve Smith’s task was always going to be a tough one with such an inexperienced attack. It was not helped with the selection of Head.
Australia faces the very real prospect of a humbling 5-0 series loss having dropped the first three games with the most recent loss on the back of South Africa posting the second highest successful second innings run chase in ODI history.
Smith has been hamstrung as to who he can throw the ball to and when it comes to Head, he has thrown it in his direction very seldom.
Through the first three games he has bowled a mere seven overs, picking up one wicket while conceding 68 runs.
With the bat, he has scored 104 runs in his three innings at a strike rate of 128, a number greatly aided by 35 off 18 balls at Durban.
Even with that fillip to his strike rate, his overall mark is 85 from his ten matches. By contrast Maxwell’s strike rate from his 67 ODIs is a whopping 125.
Maxwell has continuously copped criticism for inconsistency with the bat through his career to date. Much of it is warranted.
He lost his place in the ODI team on the back of a horror run with the bat in New Zealand and the West Indies earlier this year.
But he showed in Sri Lanka what he is capable of and he would have hit South Africa in arguably the best form of his career.
But it his experience with the ball would have provided Smith with a far better option than Head’s part-time tweakers.
Maxwell has claimed 45 wickets in his 67 ODIs with an economy rate of 5.5, on a par with specialist leg-spinner, Adam Zampa and not far from Nathan Lyon’s ODI economy rate of 4.9.
It may not have made a great deal of impact in the final outcome of the series, but the inclusion of Maxwell would have provided a more balanced side. (Click to Tweet)
prosen
Guest
This is nearly Australia's third string pace attack.you cannot compete with south Africa with that.
craig swanson
Guest
That is why Head was picked.. CA "see him as a long term prospect". Batting has not been our problem in this Saffer ODI series.. it is the bowling.. We do not have the firepower to bowl out their side. Tremain has promise so I would be sticking with him. Richardson must come into contention for the home summer one dayers. Behrendorff is fit again.
Rob
Guest
Maxwell has to be a better proposition than Bailey. I'd like him coming in earlier at 4 with about 25 overs left. If he can settle and get a start anything is possible. Head, Mash and Wade could ice the cake. He's valuable in the field and is an option with the ball. Head would have had even better results if Bailey wasn't running him out. The bowling attack is pathetic and far to inexperienced for oversea duties.
Rats
Guest
The way Miller was hitting the ball the other day, I wished Maxwell was playing. That sound from the bat. Teams are going to face more and more situations like this in modern day ODI cricket. 12 runs per over required from last 15 overs with 5 wickets remaining. That is where Maxwell is required the most.
danno
Guest
The selectors appear to be treating this series like trial games. I wish they would take all international tournaments more seriously. No Maxwell, Bird, Siddle, Behrendorff etc. Unfortunately Worrall, Boland, Tremaine will be scarred by this for some time and we may never see them again ala Lewis, Mcgain in S Africa. Lucky AB was injured.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I completely agree Maxwell should be amongst the first picked for short form teams but I don't think Head is rubbish or plays for his average. He's young and has talent. I reckon he could be a part of the ODI and T20 squad for a while - but Maxwell is better now.
cos1
Guest
I couldn't believe it when Maxwell was excluded. I though his performance in Sri Lanka would have made him an iron clad certainty. It's getting harder to avoid the conclusion that there is something wrong with the way the selectors are going about their task. As for the problem with the selectors, would you believe it, they are now talking about putting one of the fast bowlers in South Africa into the test team in November. What gets me is that the selectors didn't appear to give any thought to sending over an attack with any balance or variety. When things are not working Steve Smith needs to be able to call on something different - Head has not done the job, and the entire pace attack bowls at a similar pace, with similar height and angles, similar varieties, similar degrees of movement.
Simoc
Guest
Unfortunately in Rod Marsh Australia have their worst ever Chair of selectors and he needed to retire a few years back. Currently this mob of selectors are on par with Andrew Hilditchs efforts as the worst ever Australian selectors. They're all over the shop. In Matador Cup last night there was Tye, Behrendorff, Cutting among others bowling, all better performed bowlers in short form cricket than those in South Africa. So we can't complain if South Africa send a bunch of club cricketer bowlers to play ODIs in Australia. We've already done it to them. Its strange that now we have full time professional cricketers, but untouchable clueless selecters. The amount of runs being scored suggests T20 style has gone to T50. And they can't even recognise Maxwells outstanding talent. Give him time at the top the order and he will produce. He just needs to forget about the reverse sweep for awhile (the selectors hate it, the opposition all expect it, and it restricts his scoring). He is potentially a great player in all forms of the game but has been the go to guy for quick runs.
Doogs
Guest
Really good point. Maxwell has the X Factor. Of course he will have his failures and has had them quite recently. Shame the selectors had made up their mind before his last innings. I am in two minds on Smith as a captain. I so badly want to see him do well. The Clarke bashing got a bit boring for me, so it was pleasant to have a change. Now Smith really needs to start Captaining some wins. Unlucky for him that Warner captained a reasonable team and did a great job ( I would rather see him captaining the short form). He seems to support the bowlers better and give them a chance for their full ten. But now it is hard to gauge Smith's form as a captain in this series as he is overseeing an absolute dog of a bowling squad. Makes it hard for him. I do believe Warner supports the bowlers better but I am not sure how he would go with these bowlers.
Matth
Guest
I would rather an inconsistent winner than a bunch of consistent average losers any day. That is why Maxwell, and Mitch Johnson before him, capture the imagination. They might not be one every day, but my goodness when they are, it's a great day. Surely we can afford a guy like Maxwell at number 6. Do we not trust our top five to score 70% of our runs, for Maxwell to then add the crazy starburst cream on top? So far there has been no indication that Travis Head will be any more consistent at number six. In limited overs by definition that position should be the guy pushing it to the absolute limit, not playing within himself for his 40 average.
Peter
Roar Rookie
Yeah crazy stuff. No problem with Head, but Maxwell had to go. May not have made much difference to the results but it made no sense not selecting him.
Nudge
Guest
Haven't had time to read the article so Glenn may have touched on this, but at the moment Australia lack an X factor and there is no bigger X factor in world cricket than Maxwell
Chris Love
Roar Guru
I can't believe that Maxy is not in the best 11 one day players in Australia. Unbelievable he's not playing.
BurgyGreen
Guest
Thanks Glenn, I wholeheartedly agree. Refusing to pick Maxwell, even after Faulkner was injured, simply smacks of stubbornness from the selectors. They'd rather prove a tired old point than put the best XI on the park.