Justin Langer said something in his first press conference as Australian coach that was of huge relief to Glenn Maxwell.
At seemingly perpetual odds with team culture under Darren Lehmann, Maxwell needed some backing.
“I like ‘different’ people,” the new coach said on May 3.
“If you look at the Western Australian team, the ones I like the most are the ones who are a bit different. You’ve got to have some personality, you’ve got to have some competitive instinct, you have to be comfortable in your own skin.
“You can’t be great at anything without being a bit different.”
The quote could hardly have been more pertinent to the Victorian all-rounder, who just months prior had been strangely singled-out by Lehmann and Steve Smith for his training habits.
A new coach with a fresh outlook was just one of the cards that had seemingly fallen Maxwell’s way. With three top-order batsmen all of a sudden suspended, his chance had surely arrived.
The cherry on top was that Australia’s next Test was in Asia – the continent he had made all seven of his appearances in the baggy green.
Test selection awaited.
He knew, however, his place wasn’t assured. Hard work would precede selection, and the Victorian was keen to prove his worth in September’s tour of India for Australia A.
“There is obviously a bit of work to do in India for an ‘A’ tournament which I’m hoping to be on and put some big numbers up while I’m there,” he said before the squad was announced.
But when the names for that tour – openly spruiked as an audition for the Test team – were read out, he wasn’t on it. Little did we know, he had already been told by the selectors that he didn’t need to play in the quasi-trial matches.
Unlike Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw, Maxwell was the incumbent who didn’t need to prove himself.
After all, he is one of only three players (alongside Smith and Warner) to score a hundred on the subcontinent in the last two years. The way he uses both his feet and the crease to spinners is superior to most batsmen in the Australian setup.
Australia’s Glenn Maxwell (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
His confidence was apparent when asked in July by Gerard Whateley (on Melbourne’s SEN Radio) why he wasn’t on the tour.
“There has been a lot of positive reinforcement that I didn’t need to go on that Australia A tour,” Maxwell said.
“Even though there wasn’t any specific words, I did feel confident walking away that they’re giving me an opportunity to prepare for that Test tour.”
After this week’s announcement, where he was incredibly left out of a 15-man squad for the Pakistan series, he may be feeling silly. He shouldn’t.
Did he misread the selectors’ sentiments? Unlikely. Have they flipped on the message they gave him in July? Almost certainly.
After a couple of promising innings from Marnus Labuschagne, Langer, Trevor Hohns and Greg Chappell have selected him (instead of Maxwell) on a hunch – a premise that seemingly dictates much of Cricket Australia’s decision-making.
That they didn’t even give Maxwell the chance to compete for his place when he was sitting at home, resting – under the presumption of being picked for the Pakistan tour – is misleading, disingenuous and simply wrong. He has, yet again, been duped by a series of mixed messages from his coach and selectors.
So what can Maxwell actually do to get into the team? Langer, when speaking earlier this year about the opportunities within the top order following the ball-tampering scandal, laid out what was required to play for Australia.
“If you’re a young batsman now and you’ve got a bit of professionalism and talent and you’re ready to work at it, the opportunities are huge,” he said.
Three factors: professionalism, talent, work ethic.
We know Langer highly rates Maxwell’s professionalism. He said it himself on June’s UK tour: “I have been super impressed with Glenn Maxwell, his preparation has been literally outstanding… I have been incredibly impressed with the way he goes about his business and even the way he has been batting in the nets”.
Justin Langer, coach of Australia (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
He also rates his talent, Langer proclaiming during last summer’s Ashes series that Maxwell is “one of the most talented young players of the modern game”.
And finally, his work ethic is unquestioned – the coach said it himself on Tuesday: “An enormous talent, an elite fit young bloke, he’s incredibly fit, he brings so much to the table.”
So what are we missing? This is not to pick apart everything Langer has said about Maxwell in the past. Sure, opinions can change. But the thing is, he gave chances to almost every player to prove themselves on the A tour, except the one who could well be Australia’s best player there.
The notion that Glenn Maxwell isn’t currently in Australia’s best 15 test players is absurd.
It has rubbed an increasingly irritable public the wrong way, yet again.
Brian
Guest
May as well have the players picking the teams when the selectors of the day are as braindead and stupid as Australia's.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Without Smith and Warner, this series would have been the perfect opportunity for selectors to let Maxwell show his new focus and priority of red ball, less funky cricket. In a weakened side, he would have been expected to step up and show some maturity to go with his undoubted talent. If he couldn't do that, then his dumping would be on his own head. Instead, he has become the victim, along with Joe Burns.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
PMSL .... Turner... Good one Don!
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Given that last season, Maxwell put his hand to take responsibility and bat higher up the order, his performances should have earned some credibility with selectors. At the very least, he should have been allowed to play county cricket and strengthen his red ball game is foreign conditions. Some runs in England certainly worked for Finch, didn't they?
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Something pretty special? More special than a test hundred in India? A feat so rare that only Clarke, Smith and Maxi have achieved it in the past two tours. I am not sure there is anything Maxwell could do, in home conditions, that would surpass that. Not in the eyes of sane and reasonable cricket followers. It is a shame our selectors can't be considered among the sane or reasonable. I honestly expected Langer to be less treacherous and more likely to tell it like it is. His waffle about more hundreds is nonsense given who is touring in Maxwell's place.
Michael Keeffe
Roar Guru
With Smith and Warner out surely our best top 6 has both Maxwell and Burns in it. I can't believe they were both not given the chance to go on the A tour. You would assume with their experience and runs on the board in fc cricket compared to the others they would be a lock. It's beyond a joke
Kangas
Roar Rookie
The inner circle of Australian cricket boys club wins out again. You gotta be one of those in the clique
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Not getting much of a chance to play Shield cricket because of clashes with international white ball cricket has been a struggle for Maxwell for many years. There were a few years there where he barely played a first class match because he was constantly away playing white ball cricket for Australia. If he's picked to play the Pakistan T20's and then the SA ODI's then there is a possibility of playing the first Shield game, but that would be the only one before the first test if he was retained in the squad for all those matches. But even that first shield game depends how far out from the first T20 they send the players over. It would still be cutting it close.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
problem also is that he won't get much of a chance to play first class cricket before the 1st test as the domestic season starts with the one-day competition, then he's likely to be in the T20 squad in the UAE followed by ODI series in November against South Africa.
bazza200
Roar Rookie
That's really crap def rate Maxwell in tests
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The problem is that all those deflections are complete tripe when you consider who they've picked instead. Because the players they've picked are worse, not better, at scoring hundreds than Maxwell, and he's also proven as one of Australia's better performers in sub-continental conditions. So pretty much every statement there is just bollox. They clearly have other reasons for not selecting Maxwell that they refuse to say, so that come out with clearly incorrect statements and try to deflect questions!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'm not saying Maxwell is necessarily going to be a great test player. But even at first class level, he has significantly better returns than both Head and Labuschagne who have been picked ahead of him. I can understand Finch to an extent. While his overall FC record isn't great, that's because it was so incredibly horrible for ages. In the last 2-3 years he's actually done reasonably well at FC level, and he's a proven international performer who's shown he can step up when it counts in the other formats, so they are hoping he will do it here. But any argument you make against Maxwell can be applied to Head, Finch and Labuschagne even more than it can be applied to Maxwell.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'm not entirely sold on Maxwell as a test player yet, but you can hardly say he's been given lots of goes. He's had 7 tests total. That's over like 3 different stints. Never played a home test. And in those 14 innings he's played, he has incredibly batted in 7 different places in the batting order, from opening through to batting at 8. (I'm guessing nightwatchman might have been involved in that one). So I'd hardly call that getting a good go. Hard to really have more than a few good innings in that lot anyway. But either way, he's still been dealt with appallingly in this situation. You have to pretty much think that players not sent on the Australia A tour had to already be considered a lock for the test squad (Starc, Paine, Lyon etc) or already ruled out. Any player with a question mark should have been on that squad to have a chance to push their case. To give him no chance to do that, talk to him like he's done all he needs to do, and then overlook him for players who've done less in the areas they criticise Maxwell for than he has, is really poor.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Especially when they selected Head, who has exactly the same number of first class hundreds as Maxwell, but from more matches, and a significantly worse fifty to hundred conversion rate (30 fifties to 7 hundreds for head, 20 fifties to 7 hundreds for Maxwell). And Labuschagne's conversion rate is similar to Head's. Both are worse than Maxwell when it comes to scoring hundreds. So using that as an excuse to pick these other players over him is crazy. One of the reasons Maxwell hasn't scored better in first class cricket is he hasn't played enough of it. Many Shield seasons have been significantly interrupted for him playing white-ball cricket for Australia. In the last Shield season he averaged 50 with a couple of hundreds, including a double. I'm not entirely sold on Maxwell, but based on stats, performances and ability, he should definitely be ahead of both Head and Labuschagne.
josh
Roar Rookie
*The mixed messages would in any other work place would likely get a decision awarded in your favour at the Fair Work Commission.
josh
Roar Rookie
I'm probably giving the NSP too much credit here. But does anyone actually care about this Pakistan tour? We are going to thumped 2-0. So sending pawns to be the sacrificial lambs will ensure the better Australian team isn't scarred for a tough home series against India. I'm sure the team picked to play India will be very different from this one. The mixed messages Maxwell has recvied
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
I agree. He is very hit and miss, much like Shane Watson was, but somehow people people think he is good for the team. Given the state of the Australian team, the last thing needed is a loose cannon in the fragile middle order. Maxwell can't be relied on to hold things together. ODI player does not a test player make - Yoda.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Probably Langer thought to preserve him for the Indian tour this Summer.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
It's a poor start by JL. Not Maxi; he was 50/50. The staggering selection is Doggett and Finch, especially Doggett. Tremain performed. Finch cannot play for more than 50 overs.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
You might need to start following some cricket.