Roy urges Maxwell to fight bouncer barrage

GLENN Maxwell is at risk of being bounced out at the World Cup unless he can find a short-ball solution before next week’s knockout rounds, according to 2003 hero Andrew “Roy” Symonds.

Maxwell has been dismissed by short balls by West Indies (for a duck) and New Zealand (one run) in the only two games he has entered at perilous stages following toporder collapses.

“They’re going to bounce him, and they’re going to bounce him quite a bit,” Symonds said. “He’s got to find a way to evade it or play it or duck and weave or get it down to third man or something.

“That’s what he’s going to get from now on in. They’re going to test him out upstairs.”

Maxwell skied a catch after pulling Windies quick Sheldon Cottrell last month, leaving Australia 4-38, and then mistimed a pull shot against Jimmy Neesham, leaving the Aussies 5-92 against the Kiwis on Saturday.

“I hit the ball in the middle of the bat, and then hit one on the toe-end,” Maxwell said of the Kiwis dismissal.

“I was in position too early. I’ve never got out like that before — I’m not too worried.

“If I was getting beaten repeatedly I’d be a bit more worried. But I’ve been hitting the middle of the bat repeatedly so a big one isn’t far way.

“I feel like I haven’t hit the ball better in my career, I just haven’t got runs.”

While teammate Usman Khawaja’s apparent weakness against bouncers has been spoken about, Symonds is the first to shine the spotlight on Maxwell.

“The way he just tried to take it on, that’s not helping him and it’s not helping the team,” Symonds said.

“It’s definitely a bit of a problem for him. He’s not as convincing as I’d like to see playing the short ball. He’s just got to blunt the attack by ignoring it.

“A bumper is an effort ball for a bowler and if he’s not playing at it, especially early in his innings, a dot ball is a dot ball and he’ll catch up. He just needs a simple method.”