Why Glenn Maxwell has become an all round World Cup weapon for Australia

Glenn Maxwell bowled his full 10 overs in Australia’s victory over Sri Lanka. It is a far cry from Steve Smith’s time in charge, when the allrounder was barely used as an attacking threat with the ball.

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Steve Smith’s personal reluctance to bowl Glenn Maxwell has been revealed as the key reason behind the all-rounder’s spike in overs in the past 12 months.

New captain Aaron Finch bowled Maxwell out against Sri Lanka with the off-spinner blunting their hot start by cleverly capitalising on the wind conditions and uneven square boundaries at The Oval.

Glenn Maxwell is seeing more action with the ball under Aaron Finch’s captaincy.

“When Steve was captain Travis Head was in the side as well, so that was just a different option,” Finch said.

“And I think that just comes down to personal preference on who you prefer as a bowler, as the captain.

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“So I think Smithy obviously rated Heady’s bowling a little bit more, and that’s fine. That happens.”

Maxwell is bowling nine times as many balls since Smith was removed as captain.

He sent down just nine overs in the 17 ODIs leading up to the ball-tampering saga and has bowled 113 overs in his 24 ODIs since.

Maxwell should’ve picked up his first wicket at the World Cup when he trapped Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne lbw, but the umpire turned down the appeal and Australia had already burnt its review.

Sri Lanka raced to 0/87 after 10 overs, which was the tournament’s best powerplay, when Maxwell was introduced into the attack and put the brakes on.

Finch has faith in Maxwell’s ability to control and end during the middle overs of a match.

Sri Lanka then made 3/106 in the next 24 overs, of which Maxwell bowled 10.

“He’s done really well when he’s had the opportunity,” Finch said.

“He was a big part of us reining it in today. Two lefties (batting), he had a nice breeze to bowl with, to across, which allowed him to drift the ball quite a bit.

“He could shut down one side of the ground a bit easier.”

Finch pointed out that with Maxwell was Australia’s No. 1 spinner at the 2015 World Cup with specialist Xavier Doherty playing only one game.

The Aussies overlooked Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon against Sri Lanka, confident Maxwell could do the job, although Zampa or Lyon is likely to face Bangladesh on Thursday.

Originally published as Why Glenn Maxwell has become an all round World Cup weapon for Australia