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Opinion
So Glenn Maxwell has taken time out for mental health reasons.
Hopefully he’ll be back soon. Because if Maxwell’s career were to end now, it would rob the Australian game of perhaps its most exciting player, and we have a lot of exciting players. It would also mean those Maxwell fans out there – of which I am one – would lose out on their dream of seeing Maxy as a three-format player for Australia.
I’m not sure exactly where Maxwell sits in the Australian set-up at the moment, mental health notwithstanding.
He is a regular in Australia’s T20 team – in his last innings he scored that terrific swashbuckling half-century.
I’m less certain where he sits in the ODI calculations despite his amazing talent in that format. He had a mediocre World Cup. It wasn’t terrible – there were some handy innings and wickets – but he was bracketed in with Marcus Stoinis, who did have a terrible World Cup, and both were singled out by Justin Langer as a key reason for Australia not making the final.
(AAP Image/Mal Fairclough)
Both Stoinis and Maxwell were left out of the Australian squad tour game in England, which meant unofficially they were considered to not be among the top 25 first-class players in the country. That despite Maxwell having a better first-class average than Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Travis Head and Mitch Marsh, all of whom played in the Ashes.
Last month, Maxwell recognised he was way back in the pecking order and insisted he was fine with that.
The odd thing is, only a few months earlier Justin Langer said Maxwell could be Australia’s Virat Kohli off the back of some amazing ODI performances in India.
How did Maxwell go from being ‘the next Kohli’ in three formats to not even among the top 25 first-class players in the country after only playing a few first-class games?
What happened?
I think Langer got bedazzled by the Maxwell enigma. A lot of people fall victim to that – Maxwell does something brilliant, you stare into the sun and get blinded by the light. You start to think, “Gee, what if he did that all the time? How awesome would that be?” and dream of spectacular feats done constantly instead of sporadically.
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Expectations rise very high, and when they’re not met coaches and selectors and captains who believed in him feel silly and betrayed.
And then they get grumpy.
I think this is at the heart of why Maxwell gets publicly scolded so often by captains, coaches and selectors and has done for a number of years.
Way back in January 2014 coach Darren Lehmann singled out Maxwell for criticism in a press conference after Australia lost an ODI. “He understands he has got to be a better cricketer for us to get to where we want to get to,” Lehmann said. “He’s got the talent, but the way we want him to play, he’s got to finish those games off for us.”
In October 2015 Lehmann was upset at Maxwell for getting out in a domestic one day game. “He’s exciting, but we have to see him be really hungry to make big runs,” he said.
Maxwell replied that Lehmann “has a couple of snide remarks every now and again. He doesn’t mind having a dig at me, which is fine”.
In September 2016 Maxwell tried to move states to NSW to rejuvenate his career. Victoria blocked him and then dropped him for the next Shield game despite him being a contender for a Test spot.
In December 2016, Maxwell suggested he might do better batting for Victoria higher up the order than wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. Captain Steve Smith and the leadership group then fined Maxwell for the comments.
That month, Lehmann said Maxwell wasn’t considered for the South African Test series despite consistently averaging 50 in the Shield because he hadn’t made a hundred for two years.
“Are you going to pick a bloke who hasn’t made a hundred in two years?” he said.
In October 2017, two Tests after Maxwell scored a Test century in India, Lehmann announced publicly that his spot was up for grabs for the forthcoming Ashes. Maxwell scored two half-centuries in a Sheffield Shield game but Lehmann then criticised him for not scoring 180, and he was then dropped for Shaun Marsh. Maxwell insisted it was all fine.
In January 2018 Maxwell was dropped from Australia’s ODI team. Steve Smith pointed to Maxwell’s lack of runs in the format and said he needed to “train smarter”.
Former captains criticised Smith for doing this at a press conference instead of behind closed doors, but Maxwell insisted it was all cool.
(Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
In 2018, following sandpaper gate, Maxwell was discouraged from signing an English county deal so he could focus on the upcoming Australia A series of India. He wasn’t picked on that tour. In September of that year, he was omitted from the Test tour of the UAE, with Travis Head and Marcus Labuschagne selected instead on the back of runs they made on that Australia A series that Maxwell was not picked for.
Justin Langer claimed there was “a method to our madness” about this selection and trotted out the line about Maxwell not scoring hundreds. The many logic flaws in Langer’s argument were pointed out at the time. Maxwell insisted he was fine with it.
In January 2019, Trevor Hohns said Maxwell “is just content to focus on one-day cricket and white-ball cricket,” but admits “he makes it very clear he would like to play Test cricket.”
Maxwell put on a smile and insisted everything was fine.
“I’m certainly not sulking about it. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, at the moment,” he said.
“I’m still trying to do all I can to get back in that Test side but I’ve just got to make sure I’m making every post a winner from now on.”
(AP Photo/Jon Super)
My take on all this? Maxwell can do such magical things batting, bowling and fielding that captains, coaches and selectors get frustrated he can’t do them all the time, which means they don’t appreciate what he can give them.
For Maxwell’s entire first-class career, he’s pretty much consistently averaged 40 with the bat, taken the odd useful wicket and been amazing in the field. That is a very handy player to have in your side.
If he’d replicated his first-class form at Test level, he would still have outperformed pretty much every Australian batsman in the past decade who isn’t Dave Warner, Steve Smith or Usman Khawaja and would’ve also given the captain a bowling option. His fielding is also among the best in the world.
Why is that not enough?
I get people want more. I’m sure Maxwell would like to give more. But he can still give a lot – more than others in the Australian top six have been providing.
If Maxwell does come back to cricket, I hope he’s still considered for Test matches. A no.6 who averages 40, can take the odd wicket and fields brilliantly – that is a very handy player. That is what Maxwell is. It’s not Kohli, but it’s still very, very good.
I don’t think it will happen. But a guy can dream.
Come back, Maxy. You are missed.
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