Glenn Maxwell's ODI axing could boost Australia's World Cup hopes

Surely Hanscomb is only in the squad due to his keeping. Even with the keeping considered, surely you take Wade with the form he's in. Mitch Marsh would have been a better option than Agar in my opinion. The batting seems a bit light after the top 4 in the current team

Get him into the national team in all three formats. Support him and give him a proper chance at test level. In the 2019 ODI World Cup, the pressure on him was totally unreasonable and it understandably got to him - he was the only player capable of exploding and the docile strike rate and inconsistent performances of his peers left to much expectation on Maxy's shoulders. Support him properly, everyone do their part and then Maxi will be an international superstar. But he needs to be viewed as the unpredictable 'bonus' and inconsistent destroyer, not the consistent, reliable anchor / launcher / recoverer.

I like Handscomb as an ODI player but I don't see how he possibly makes the T20I side. To borrow one of your examples, Wells has a significantly better T20 average and strike rate than Handscomb and has been in better form.

Hi Jeff, On last years WC , wasn’t so great besides one great knock against sri lanka in 10 innings last summer in england and maybe two reasonable quick knocks , though like a lot of aussie players that dont play as well on certain pitches there they struggle with the change with duke/movement . that said he often came after warner smith had generally clonked some runs but carey did better after him in world cup by some margin. . His t20 average in england is lowest of all countries (20av) besides maybe UAE, much higher elsewhere too I think too for what thats worth it backs up his poor world cup run in england (he was unlucky with a run out and one other innings in the world cup) . Im a fan I think in India he’s a no brainer on the turning wickets there in either white ball format although long term averages are about the same in england and India , I think the world cup there wasn’t as great over 10 matches. I also think his mental health break has sharpened and matured him up even more as has captaining the stars. Id have taken him in india as he can simply do things most batsman can’t wth the white ball under intense pressure, his t20 av in india (46) is also twice that of the ODI average in uk (20) which is also more evidence he goes well in india despite it being sightly shorter format

Yeah, he's a stretch, but Head could get a look in all.

None of Smith, Labuschagne or Handscomb are standouts in T20. Let Marnus and Smith perform in T20 first. Handscomb is an also-ran, sitting at the same level as Wells, Heazlett, Cartwright, Cooper...that type.

He does if Khawaja is still being mentioned (as Ryan H) did. So much better. Way ahead of Handscomb too.

Yeah, long term I don’t really see how Turner fits into this team since he’s stopped bowling. Maxwell and Marsh can both do that job with the bat, and both can bowl some useful overs.

Shaun doesn’t fit. Not with Warner, Finch, Smith, Labushagne and Handscombe already there. What they need are the big hitting middle to lower middle order allrounders.

Fair enough. I think Labs is a long way from being in the T20I side though. Same with Lyon, although I don’t mind him as the second ODI spinner. EDIT: just looked at Labuschagne’s T20 stats – 7 games, 42 runs, average of 7 and SR of 84…!

Yeah I had Hazlewood in and at the moment, Labuschagne. I know he's unlikely to go the distance, but we saw the selectors push Handscomb when he made a few in Tests, so was thinking selector rather than my preference. Similarly Lyon is getting a look too, which isn't my preference either.

The other anomaly, DJ, is negligible domestic / international crossover. Now the BBL dominates the summer, players haven’t played an ODI or Shield game for weeks, while the International schedule has Australia playing 5 Tests and 3 ODI’s. The domestic ODI series was 4 months ago and at least it had a slight crossover with the SA series. I get that at International level there’ll never be a perfect fit, but I can only see a political reason for Australia to be playing an ODI series in India, in January with kids on school holidays. A survey was done by the ECB before the WC regarding player recognition and the most recognisable player STILL ten years after his retirement was Freddie Flintoff. That has as much to do with their game being exclusively behind a pay wall up to the WC. Australia certainly isn’t there yet, but with only Tests being available to all and the ODI’s pushed to the periphery in Oct and March in Australia with families having school to think about, there’s some necessity for CA to provide smarter summer scheduling. Right now International cricket is coming a poor second to the bbl and that will eventually come back to bite CA when they want to hold championships and wonder where their numbers went for their pathways.

Cost might be a factor but the natural evolution has to be to treat them as separate sides, as we do with tests and ODIs. If you go back far enough, ODI teams were closely aligned to test sides at one point too. That just wouldn't fly now. Cost won't come into it if a guy outside your ODI team is simply a better T20I option than a guy who is in the ODI team. It's only going to be relevant (to a wealthy cricketing country like ours, that is) if neither player is significantly better than the other when it comes to T20Is. BTW, who are the six 3-format players? I can think of Smith, Warner, Starc and Cummins, with maybe Hazlewood (although T20s aren't his strongest suit).

Agreed, but most teams looked at their T20I sides as an extension of ODI, which was probably easier due to scheduling and the fact the domestic 20/20 leagues were dominated by o/s players and retired home ex-international’s. It’s a natural evolution to split the team’s somewhat, but there’s still a cost benefit involved when a team is touring and there’s 5 ODI’s and 3 T20’s scheduled. Unless the WC is looming, Australia isn’t going to send 3 separate sides to the West Indies or England, it’s too costly. Especially when at the moment the Aussies have at least 6 players who’d play all 3 forms in a championship final.

I see you agree Matt, he had a productive 15CWC and his format is 20/20 as you say with the 14T20.

He played every game in the 2019 WC, Jeff. Made no impact as a seasoned WC winner. I personally don't believe that has anything to do with England as he is able to be semi useful in their domestic comp. At international level, 20/20 is his format. He's been given an extended ODI run and now the focus is on 4 years time.

That's true, but it did take us longer than some other countries to really separate ODIs from T20Is. For a while there was a perception that we should play almost the same team across both formats. It probably wasn't until the tri-series vs England and NZ in 2018 that there was a firm line drawn between them.

I think so. Maxwell's expertise in T20s lends itself to a finishing role in ODIs. I know they want to get games into Turner but I think Maxwell is still better in that role: Warner Finch Smith Handscomb/Labuschagne M Marsh Carey Maxwell (floating) 4 bowlers I think the biggest obstacle to Maxwell's inclusion right now is the potential for Agar to bat at seven to accommodate an extra frontline bowler. I don't think they need to do that though, if both Maxwell and Marsh are in the side. That's plenty of bowling (especially when you can get the odd over out of Labuschagne, Finch or Smith).

Agree. That is the worst I've ever seen. There must be a better way.

Based on current form there’s going to be a lot of competition for the all-rounder role come the WC. Maxwell, Mitch Marsh and Stoinis all putting their hands up.