Dipak Maxwell: Bold tactical switch worth a spin to get Aussies firing on all cylinders at World Cup

Australia need to do something radical to be a chance at this World Cup so they should consider turning to an old Kiwi trick to upset the apple cart.

The late, great Martin Crowe set the 1992 tournament on its head when he used off spinner Dipak Patel to open the bowling and, combined with the New Zealand skipper’s blistering form with the bat, took them all the way to the semi-finals against the odds. 

Australia have a similar surprise opening bowling weapon up their sleeve in the unlikely form of veteran all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, whose form with the ball has been the silver lining to the team’s clouded start to the Cup in India heading into Friday’s showdown with Pakistan in Bengaluru.

Maxwell has been Australia’s most effective bowler on the turning tracks and has gone for just four boundaries across the first three games to be one of the most miserly bowlers in the tournament. 

His economy rate of 3.74 ranks fourth at the World Cup, fractionally behind the Indian trio of Ravichandran Ashwin (3.4), Jasprit Bumrah (3.44) and Ravindra Jadeja (3.73). 

Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Pathum Nissanka. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

The fact that four of the top five are spinners – yet another Indian in Kuldeep Yadav is the other one – tells you all you need to know about how ludicrous it was for Australia to go into this tournament with just Maxwell and Adam Zampa in their squad. 

A couple of other teams have already tried the tactic of opening up with spin at one end – the Netherlands with Aryan Dutt and Afghanistan putting faith in Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

It worked a treat in their upset win over England with Mujeeb bagging 3-51, including the scalp of Joe Root for just 11. 

Australia’s seemingly impossible to budge seam trio have experienced mixed fortunes early on in India. 

Josh Hazlewood took two and Mitchell Starc the other as they reduced India to 3-1 with three ducks in their first game before Virat Kohli and KL Rahul combined to steer them to victory. 

But the new-ball duo and Pat Cummins, who prefers to bowl first change, lacked penetration in the power play in the loss to South Africa and against Sri Lanka before the game turned in Australia’s after a 125-run opening stand between Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera. 

Maxwell has been the only bowler who has been able to apply the brakes for the Aussies. 

Starc is the only other bowler conceding less than five per over and apart from token efforts here and there from Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh, it appears they are going to be relying heavily on the same five bowlers. 

That is a risky plan given this tournament is a marathon with nine group games over a five-week span with plenty of travel in between to ensure there’s very few true rest days for a tiring bowling unit. 

Maxwell entered this World Cup with little cricket in recent months due to paternity leave and a nagging ankle injury but in what is almost certain to be his last ODI World Cup, the 35-year-old has relished the responsibility of being a frontline bowling option.

There’s little subtlety to his tactics. He is getting through his overs quickly and darting the ball in to the pads of batters to give them no room to swing freely. 

His years of short-form experience in Australia’s white-ball teams – no less than 230 combined games – and in the IPL make him a difficult proposition for the game’s best batters.

There’s also that mind games factor of batters thinking they should be able to get a supposedly lesser bowler like Maxwell away but being afraid to truly take him on for fear of getting out to the “fifth option”.

A bit like Darren Lehmann 20 years ago when he burgled many ODI wickets with his low-slung left-arm skidders which did more with an opponent’s mindset than they did off the pitch.

Adam Zampa celebrates the wicket of Maheesh Theekshana. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Zampa’s return to form with 4-47 in the five-wicket win over Sri Lanka eased plenty of pressure on Cummins’ team. 

A confidence bowler, he appeared to have lost his mojo on the back of being caned for 113 wicketless runs in a 10-over onslaught against South Africa in Centurion recently, with expensive returns in the ensuing five matches. 

But after a tepid first three-over spell, Cummins proactively brought Zampa back midway through the innings after he had taken the first couple of wickets himself, and the leg-spinner repaid the favour by ripping through the Sri Lankan middle order. 

Whether Maxwell opens the bowling or is brought on as the first change bowler again, he and Zampa face a massive task in Bengaluru in trying to negate Pakistan’s dynamic batting line-up. 

Their top four of Abdullah Shafique, who caned 113 against Sri Lanka last week, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who also blasted a ton in the same game, are probably only a fraction behind India and South Africa for the most powerful top orders.

Rizwan has been a thorn in Australia’s side recently – he’s reached triple figures twice in his past six trips to the crease against them although he can be feast or famine with a duck and three three scores of 23 or less in between. 

He has started the World Cup with a bang by racking up 68 against the Dutch, his match-winning 131 not out to conquer Sri Lanka and a top-score of 49 in the loss to India. 

Rizwan has posted 876 runs this calendar year at 73 with an impressive strike rate of 92.99 to be fourth overall behind Indian opener Shubman Gill’s whirlwind 1246 but the Pakistani keeper has the best average of anyone in the top 10.

Despite this he is somehow ranked No.41 in the ICC ODI batting rankings – someone at head office needs to reboot their Commodore 64 – while Babar is first despite being sixth on the run-scorers’ list this year with 810 at 45.

Due to the upset losses by England to Afghanistan and South Africa to the Dutch, neither side is out of the running for the semis if they lose this match but if Australia drop to 1-3 they will be facing a scenario where they will need to win their final five games to ensure they don’t go home early.

A radical move like opening up with Maxwell’s offies could be worth a shot rather than sticking to the same old plan which has so far yielded modest success.