Australia’s chances of hoisting aloft their sixth ODI World Cup rest on the spinning fingers and surgical pins in the ankle of Glenn Maxwell.
The veteran all-rounder, who turns 35 next week, is carrying a huge burden into the tournament which begins for Australia on Sunday with a daunting first-up clash with Cup favourites India in Chennai.
Plenty has been made of Australia’s top-order batting and whether the pace trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc can fire on the unfriendly Indian conditions.
But the efforts of Maxwell will have the biggest bearing on whether the Aussies make the semi-finals of the 10-team tournament and defy the odds to regain the trophy.
His late-order hitting and status as Australia’s best all-round fielder will be crucial while he will also serve as their second spinner on the turning tracks after the selectors surprisingly replaced injured left-armer Ashton Agar in the squad with a specialist batter in Marnus Labuschagne while also nursing opener Travis Head through the first few weeks while his broken hand heals.
(Photo by Chris Hyde – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Maxwell is undoubtedly in the twilight of what has been a fine career in the green and gold.
A World Cup winner in the ODI side in 2015 and the T20 outfit two years ago, he has been a superb player for more than 11 years in the international arena.
With 3495 runs at 33.6 with the bat, 64 wickets at 47.71 and 81 catches from his 129 ODIs, he’s amassed a record that puts him just outside the conversation for Australia’s greatest 50-over all-rounder.
Only all-time greats Steve and Mark Waugh, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds and Allan Border have more runs and wickets for Australia in the format.
All-round stars
| ODIs | Wickets | Avge | Runs | Avge | |
| Steve Waugh | 325 | 195 | 34.67 | 7569 | 32.9 |
| Shane Watson | 190 | 168 | 31.79 | 5757 | 40.54 |
| Andrew Symonds | 198 | 133 | 37.25 | 5088 | 39.75 |
| Mark Waugh | 244 | 85 | 34.56 | 8500 | 39.35 |
| Allan Border | 273 | 73 | 28.36 | 6524 | 30.62 |
| Glenn Maxwell | 129 | 64 | 47.71 | 3495 | 33.6 |
He copped plenty of stick from the Australian fans during his playing career but these numbers show how Watson was not given due credit for his exploits with bat and ball.
They also underline how Border under-bowled himself during his lengthy career. Granted, scores were much lower during his era but the fact that his bowling average was lower than his batting clip demonstrates that he could have been more of a genuine all-rounder.
Maxwell has had an unusual career. You couldn’t say he has under-achieved but with his natural talent, it could have been a lot different, particularly in the Test arena.
He got his first baggy green on the ill-fated 2013 “Homeworkgate” tour of India and despite failing with bat, he picked up seven wickets with his off-spinners.
Maxwell was given another shot against Pakistan in the UAE the following year but squandered a golden chance to establish himself as a batting all-rounder on a road by getting bowled going the tonk even though he had smashed 37 from the first 27 deliveries he’d faced.
Like Damien Martyn against South Africa at the SCG in 1994, the selectors sent Maxwell into purgatory and when he finally got a recall for the third Test in India in 2017, he showed he could be a Test-class batter with a hard-nosed 104, batting four hours, as Australia fought out a draw.
But as was repeatedly the case, the selectors did not give him more than the minimum amount of time to find his feet in the Test team and after not doing much with the bat in the two subsequent matches in Bangladesh, he was dropped for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba with Usman Khawaja getting the nod.
Khawaja enjoyed a strong series as Australia thumped England 5-0 and Maxwell has not played a Test since although he would have been a strong chance of playing in India earlier this year but for his broken leg.
He is in a small group of players who scored a century in a career spanning seven Tests or less for Australia:
the original centurion Charles Bannerman (one in three, 1877-79)
Henry Graham (two in six, 1893-96)
Roger Hartigan (one in two, 1908)
Jack Badcock (one in seven from 1936-38 before World War II)
Jack Moroney (two in seven, 1949-51)
John Benaud (one in three, 1972-73),
Tony Mann (one as a nightwatchman in four, 1977-78)
Dirk Wellham (one in six, 1981-87)
Martin Love (one in five, 2002-03)
Kurtis Patterson (one in two matches in 2019)
and another Victorian like Maxwell who was not given much of a go, Brad Hodge (an unbeaten 203 among his six Tests, 2006-08).
Making Maxwell’s task in India that much harder is the fact that he is still being troubled by ankle pain from the broken leg he suffered last summer from a freak accident at a party.
The injury led to him coming home from the recent South Africa white-ball tour before stepping on the field and he’s only managed a few matches in the past four months after his stint with Birmingham on the English one-day circuit.
He picked up 4-40 in his comeback ODI clash with India and whacked 77 in a World Cup warm-up fixture against Pakistan to at least get some decent time in the middle but Maxwell is the kind of player who doesn’t necessarily need a bank of match practice to perform at his best anyway.
Maxwell has opted to delay follow-up surgery to remove the pins holding his ankle together until after the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States next June.
These two tournaments are likely to be the Victorian’s last major events for Australia as selectors start refreshing the ageing squad with new blood.
If he can finish his career with two more World Cups, it would be a fitting way for Maxwell to bow out.
The Knightwatchmen who say Nii
Roar Rookie
I think you'll find it was Marsh as much as Boon in 1987, and in 1999 it was 'Junior' as much as 'Tugga' and in 2007 Hayden was NOT the difference between us winning and not winning the world cup. He may have scored three tons, but given we were invincible at the time, failure on at least two of those occasions would not have seriously infringed upon our prospects in the tournament - standard of opposition was down compared to the 1990s.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
And it’s never enough… from Cricinfo delightful and insightful “Mad Maxi” story circa 2017… “Less than 24 hours later, Australia's World Cup squad was announced. Maxwell's name was in it. His inclusion would prove to be one of the best judgement calls the Australian selectors have made in the past decade. When the squad was announced, Maxwell's ODI record read: 36 matches, 891 runs at an average of 29.70 and a strike rate of 120.40. Those are promising numbers but hardly world-beating. Here are Maxwell's stats as a finisher, floating between No. 4 and No. 6, in Australia's victorious World Cup: six innings, 324 runs, including a hundred and two half-centuries, at an average of 64.80 and a strike rate of 182.02. If you jumped in a time machine and showed these numbers to an international cricketer in 2011, he probably wouldn't believe it. Almost no one had thought it possible to score that many runs that quickly over the course of a six-week tournament featuring the very best. And it wasn't just the runs but how he scored them. Batsmen, particularly those of the attacking variety, typically return to the team more circumspect and risk-averse, albeit with a vastly improved capacity to score runs. Steve Waugh is a classic example. To spectators during the World Cup, Maxwell's approach seemed to be, if anything, the opposite of the norm. His batting was more brazen than ever. He reverse-swept the third ball that he faced in the tournament - against the turn of Moeen Ali - for four. He reverse-flicked giant left-arm Afghanistan quick Shapoor Zadran over third man for six. Not even Lasith Malinga yorkers were treated with respect; when Maxwell received a Hellfire missile headed for the base of leg stump, he backed away and drove it over extra cover for four. His batting was remorseless in every sense of the word, showing neither regret for the bowler's fate nor guilt over his previous failures. In the eyes of many, his batting came to represent the apotheosis of the T20 age.”
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
And I will say it. He set the tone against England. Day 2 of the tournament . Against Afghanistan. Against Sri Lanka. Against Pakistan. These were the games we won to get us into the final. He set the tone in the field. He played ridiculously selfless cricket yet went at 64 average . 64 with only 1 not out but striking at 180 - it’s literally off the charts, Bradman level stuff in this format especially back then. And bowled fearlessly enough on unhelpful decks so we could play 3 quicks and Watto and one of Faulkner and Mitchy. Enough said
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
You made a point and then you moved your own point within the same posts and in defending that you have denigrated Maxwell, and now focus on Starc who was never the issue. All you have to say is “yeah I guess I had forgotten just how good Maxwell was in 2015, that 88 off 39 etc, it’s Langer’s fault, he convinced us all Maxwell never really delivered”. You’ve still got time to say it. But I don’t care any more.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Had we beaten NZ in that game Starc would’ve been POTM with his 6/28. He set the tone in the final, he was the difference when it mattered most, which was my original point. No one would say that about Maxwell, ever. Now is his chance.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
der. it gets awarded formally. but that wasn't what you said. --- noting that we played 8 games. with Boult getting POTM when they whipped us... only one Australian player was POTM twice in the series. Starc was once. Against the then might of Scotland. I'll let you guess who it was. that was POTM twice. and it wasn't for his tournament igniting 66 off 40 inheriting a so so position from Gorgeous George, against Broad Anderson Finn Woakes and MO.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
I stand by my statement re Starc
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
Warner averaged 15 less while going at 60 less. yeah whatever
jammel
Roar Rookie
what about simon o'donnell? He should be in this discussion IMO. Hard-hitting #7, great slower ball, could always bowl 10 overs.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
He was good but not great in 2015. Smith & Warner we’re superior with the bat & Starc was vastly superior with the ball and was the difference, especially in the big games. Maxwell was good, but he wasn’t the player if the tournament, Starc most definitely was.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
You implied by your sentence construction that Maxwell has never fulfilled his talent in a major event Yet his 2015 WC was ridiculous. Ridiculously good. Off the charts good. Starc has nothing to do with it Direct enough?
jammel
Roar Rookie
Hopefully you're correct Brett! :)
jammel
Roar Rookie
Head would be the best option. Then MMarsh or Ashton Turner. And then Marnus :) Beyond those names, it would really be someone new in the XI :) I do look forward to some ODI regeneration after this WC. The likes of Matt Short, Hardie, Ellis, Tanvir, Spencer Johnson, Kuhnemann, Murphy and dare I say it Jake F-M, should really be given greater opportunities. And many others of course too!
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Greg Chappell has actually got the figures in one day cricket 40 ave bat 29 with the ball. He only played 74 matches but still over 2000 runs and over 70 wickets. Maxwell is great because of his batting strike rate and fielding. His bowling in tests if he played in the Shane Warne era he would have been useful at no 6 and 5th bowler, playing in the Lyon era means he gets left out though.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
I don’t know who you’re talking about, try being direct. In any event the player of the 2015 CWC was unequivocally Mitchell Starc.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/batting-highest-career-strike-rate/icc-cricket-world-cup-2014-15-6537 and 38 overs across 8 matches playing as a primary spinner often, going at less than 6 and taking 6 wickets 3 run outs including a 1-stumper on Dhoni in the semi
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
What ?
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
Are you too young to remember the 2015 WC?
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
He’s been a huge disappointment in shirt form cricket, got nothing to do with the captain. He was poor in the Ashes as well.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
In 87 it was Boonie, in 99 it was Tugga, 03 it was Roy, 07 it was Haydos, in 15 it was Starc, I’m betting in 23 it will be Maxy. I just have a feeling this will be the occasion where he’ll finally fulfill his talent in a major event. At 35 it’s probably his last chance.