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Glenn Maxwell has just been picked as Australia’s spinning all-rounder for the Test tour of India, yet Steve Smith is showing blatant disrespect for Maxwell’s bowling.
Maxwell has been denied a bowl in five of his past six ODIs and in the past year has been offered just 1.5 overs per game, on average.
Smith does not seem to rate the Victorian’s bowling, which could have major ramifications in India.
What makes this situation so curious is Maxwell had been in great ODI bowling form up until one year ago, when Smith stopped using him almost entirely. At that point, Maxwell had taken 30 wickets at an average of 30 from his previous 31 ODIs. Yet Smith ignored this long run of good form and has since all but banished the all-rounder from the bowling crease.
Smith is ignoring Maxwell in favour of part-time off-spinner Travis Head, which is a strange decision when you compare their career 50-over records:
Maxwell: 75 wickets at an average of 36
Head: 12 wickets at an average of 58
In the current series against Pakistan, Maxwell has not been bowled once, while Head has taken two wickets at an average of 58. Australia will be making a major mistake if they go to the Champions Trophy in England with Head as their lead tweaker.
Up until a year ago, Maxwell was a key component of the Australian attack and would have almost justified his ODI spot with his spin alone.
Smith’s lack of confidence contrasts with former ODI captains George Bailey and Michael Clarke, both of whom gave Maxwell significant responsibility with the ball. Clarke believed so strongly that he used Maxwell as Australia’s main spinner during their successful 2015 World Cup campaign.
The Victorian repaid Clarke’s faith throughout that tournament, taking six wickets at an average of 36 – a fine return in a tournament played on pitches which saw only three tweakers feature in the top-20 wicket takers.
Poor handling of slow-bowling options is nothing new when it comes to Smith’s captaincy. It is curious that Australia have not played Adam Zampa, the leading ODI wicket taker worldwide last year, in even one of their six ODIs this summer, opting instead to use Head.
On the most pace-friendly of pitches it is understandable for Australia to leave Zampa out, instead banking on pace, but omitting him match after match makes no sense.
Smith is not on the selection panel, but Rod Marsh made it clear last year that the skipper has significant input on who makes the XI each game. It would seem unlikely Zampa is being left on the sidelines if Smith is advising the selectors to play him. Despite Zampa’s sensational limited overs record for Australia – 39 wickets at an average of 25 – Smith doesn’t seem to rate him.
His use of Zampa in last year’s World T20 was awful. Twice in that tournament, Zampa started extremely well with the ball, in a one or two-over spell, then was not used for the rest of the match. Zampa took five wickets at 13 for the tournament, yet he delivered only 11 overs in his four matches, when it was obvious to everyone but Smith that he should have bowled his full four overs in each game.
Smith has been copping flak this summer for his supposedly poor tactical deployment of Test spinner Nathan Lyon. While I don’t agree with much of this criticism – Lyon’s bowling was often so poor it was hard to utilise him fully – there is no doubt Smith’s handling of spinners must improve across all formats.
His refusal to bowl Maxwell could leave Australia in a strange position in the Tests in India. Australia are likely to field a batting all-rounder at six, so that means either Maxwell or Mitchell Marsh will be in the XI. If Smith doesn’t want to use Maxwell in ODIs, even when the game is all but killed off, how likely is he to want to bowl the Victorian in India?