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Maxwell is a T20 treasure for Australia

Australia's Glenn Maxwell. (Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Expert
7th July, 2018
38

Glenn Maxwell is Australia’s second-best Twenty20 cricketer after captain Aaron Finch, yet the all-rounder continues to get showered in exaggerated criticism.

Go online after Maxwell is dismissed for Australia in the shortest format and you’ll see an endless stream of comments deriding or condemning the Victorian.

It surprises me how many fans willing to make such bold criticisms do not seem to fully understand T20 cricket and how greatly it differs from even one-day internationals. The consistency of batsmen is less important in the shortest format.

The batsmen in hottest demand in T20 leagues throughout the world are not those who consistently chip in with handy knocks of 45 from 35 balls but rather are those who occasionally win a game off their own blade with a ballistic knock of something like 70 from 35 balls.

A batsman who averages 34 at a strike rate of 164, like Maxwell in T20 internationals, is undeniably more valuable than one who averages, say, 40 at a strike rate of 135. The latter batsman may contribute more regularly, but their scoring rate of 8.1 runs per over pales in comparison to Maxwell’s mark of just under ten runs per over.

Batsmen putting up numbers like Maxwell are far rarer in world cricket and hence more valuable than solid Twenty20 batsmen like England’s Joe Root (average of 36, strike rate 128), South Africa’s Hashim Amla (average 35, strike rate 132) or New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (average 31, strike rate 121).

There remains too much emphasis on batting averages in T20 cricket when for the most part strike rate is the more relevant metric. If I was putting together a T20 team, I would choose a specialist batsman who averages 28 at a strike rate of 170 before I would select one who averages 60 at a strike rate of 125.

Maxwell has the highest strike rate of all time in T20 internationals. To get a sense of just how elite it is to strike at 164, consider that there are only seven batsmen in history who have struck at better than 147. In T20 international a strike rate of 145 is considered elite.

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Batsmen who score at a blazing strike rate like Maxwell in T20 internationals take pressure off their batting partners. This is of huge value in a format where so many wickets are the result not of a fantastic delivery but rather of a batsman cracking under pressure and gifting their wicket.

Glenn Maxwell

(AAP Image/Mal Fairclough)

Maxwell’s enormous value was evident in Australia’s narrow win over Zimbabwe on Friday when the tourists claimed victory with just one ball to spare. On a sluggish pitch that did not foster free strokeplay, Maxwell was the only cricketer in the match to bat with fluency.

He cracked 56 from 38 balls. Maxwell’s strike rate of 147 was leagues ahead of the combined strike rate of 112 of the other four batsmen who scored 15 or more in the match.

It was his ability to find the boundary that reduced the stress on Travis Head (48 from 42 balls). When Maxwell arrived at the crease Australia were stuck in the mud on 2/26 from 4.3 overs, at a glacial run rate of 5.77 runs per over. At the other end Head continued to struggle to go at better than a-run-a-ball, but he did not have to panic and chance his arm, because Maxwell was keeping the required run rate in check.

Maxwell was easily the most influential player in the match, saving Australia from what would have been an embarrassing defeat. Yet somehow the man of the match award instead went to Australian quick Andrew Tye, who took two of this three wickets in the death overs as Zimbabwe went the slog.

As a Twenty20 cricketer, Maxwell receives far too much condemnation and far too little credit.

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