BAILEY REVEALS: OUR PLAN TO STOP MAXY

Maxy a worry, but Canes wary of batting depth

THE Hurricanes have a plan to cool the hot hitting of Melbourne Stars dynamo Glenn Maxwell in their BBL semi-final at Blundstone Arena tomorrow night, but George Bailey says that might open the door for other batters from the green machine to derail the Cane Train.

Maxwell’s repertoire of shots and ability to score to all parts of the compass make his scalp the most prized, but Bailey warns of other potential shooting stars — particularly underachiever Nic Maddinson — as a 15,000-plus crowd is predicted for the Hurricanes’ home semi-final.

“If you focus too heavily on just one player then Ben Dunk or Marcus Stoinis will get you,” Bailey said. “The other one you’d have to be concerned about is Nic Maddinson, who’s hardly done anything all tournament, and that worries me too because he’s a quality player.

“They’ve got some phenomenal strikers, and they are dangerous against pace or spin.

THE Australian one-day team can “absolutely” rediscover the form that took it to World Cup glory in 2015, according to star batsman Glenn Maxwell.

After being crowned Australia’s T20 player of the year at the Australian Cricket Awards on Monday night Maxwell, who was a key part of the 2015 World Cup triumph, outlined his team’s path back to the top. Despite the high turnover of players in recent times, Maxwell could be one of six players from the last World Cup success returning when the tournament begins in England this year.

“I think this team is going to need to take the game on in the way that’s cricket-smart, with good cricket shots,” Maxwell said. “It’s a way of dominating the opposition, a solid way of playing one-day cricket.

“In 2015 it was just solid the whole way through, there were big risks but they didn’t feel like risks when they were happening.

“It was Aaron Finch charging opening bowlers and hitting them over the top and you thought ‘that’s not a risk for Aaron Finch’.

“It was David Warner hitting the ball over point for four, and that wasn’t a risk, Steve Smith hitting the ball from outside off through forward square leg, that’s not a risk.

“It was just how players were playing. If we’re going to win this World Cup we need to be able to play with freedom.”