AUSSIES TO THE MAX IN CUP BID
‘King of the kids’ has no plans to divide, only conquer in UAE
HE IS both the man critics love to curse and the hero kids want to be. But now Glenn Maxwell has the chance to keep everyone happy and cement his legacy in Australian cricket.
Already immersed in tournament conditions in the Indian Premier League on the eve of the Twenty20 World Cup, Maxwell stands out as the most in-form batter on the planet in an Australian squad surrounded by players who are out of form, injured and insecure.
It’s an inescapable fact that if Australia is to break its sorry record in T20 World Cups, Maxwell has to deliver.
The 32-year-old has learnt from previous cups that it does him no good to overhype the occasion and put pressure on himself to be “the man”.
But he understands the magnitude of his influence, and he is ready.
“I’m trying not to think about it so much as trying to lead the way. It’s just trying to go out there and execute,” Maxwell said. “I know that if I have carried this form over from the IPL into the World Cup, I know our team will have success.
“I know every time I can play my role to the best of my ability, there’s generally a good chance our team is going to have success.”
In his past five IPL starts, Maxwell has scored 51 not out, 40, 57, 50 not out and 56 in a role where rather than having a set batting position, he is unleashed around the end of the power play after six overs so he has the time he needs to leave his mark.
The key now is to translate that to the World Cup, where he will be lining up against Virat Kohli not with him.
As a young star at the 50over World Cup in 2015, Maxwell produced two clutch innings that helped set up Australia’s historic triumph on home soil.
But in the latest ODI World Cup in 2019, Maxwell blamed himself for Australia’s semi-final demise.
“I felt like I was 100 per cent to blame and I was looking around the change room going, ‘I wonder if they’re thinking the same,’ I wonder if they’re looking at me thinking, ‘If only Maxi had have turned up this tournament,” Maxwell told Neroli Meadows’ podcast.
Maxwell is man enough to admit there have been times in his career, like that, where his performances have warranted criticism.
But there have been plenty of other occasions where Maxwell’s pay packet and thrill-a-minute playing style have made him an easy scapegoat.
The all-round superstar showed great courage to acknowledge he was struggling with his mental health when he took a break from the game two summers ago, and he now has a new way of preparing his mind as he gears up for this World Cup starting on October 23 in the UAE.
“I try and take the event out of it,” Maxwell said.
“I feel like if you get overhyped by the event, which I probably have in the past, you can say, ‘ This is a World Cup, I’ve got to focus and I’ve got to do extra and all this stuff.’
“I know the path that (thinking) leads me down. I now literally try and take every game of cricket exactly the same and don’t overhype or overemphasise any tournament or game. I feel it adds unnecessary pressure when all in all it’s a ball coming down that you’ve just got to try and hit. If you make it any worse than that, it makes it more difficult.”
In recent weeks, AFL entertainer Eddie Betts and NRL magician Benji Marshall have bowed out greats of their respective codes.
But above all, perhaps their most unique legacy is they were the heroes that children wanted to emulate in the backyard.
Perhaps this is the greatest testament to Maxwell as well, only he still has chapters left to write in his cricket career.
He might not have played as many Tests as he could have, or perhaps should have, but Maxwell is king of the kids for his era of players and an inspiration to the next generation, largely due to the fearless way he lights up a crease, which has changed the game.
Maxwell, a man hardened by the reality that cricket can be a brutal rollercoaster ride, is humbled by this rare honour, which cannot be measured in runs or trophies.
“I find that really cool. I still remember trying to be different heroes back in my backyard and trying to imitate them while playing cricket with my brother in the backyard or my best
mates down the road,” said Maxwell.
“It’s one of those things that when you hear, you feel like it makes everything all worth it. When you get sent videos of kids reverse sweeping … it warms your heart. They make you feel really good inside.
“To have fans out there that are trying to imitate you and trying to be you in the backyard is something you never thought would happen as a kid because you were always trying to imitate other people.”
Maxwell hasn’t given up on Test cricket, and there is already a school of thinking that he could offer Australia’s incomplete batting order an x-factor at No.6 this Ashes summer. Certainly a bumper World Cup would give him a momentum that selectors would find hard to ignore.