Glenn Maxwell shines in Twenty20 against India — but has his Test shot come and gone?
ROBERT CRADDOCK: Australia’s most enigmatic batsman cleared the fence three times in three balls at the Gabba the day before Australia chooses its team to face India. But have we seen the last of Glenn Maxwell as a Test cricketer?
IT doesn’t take much.
Australia’s most enigmatic batsman cleared the fence three times in three balls at the Gabba and the Maxwell army were on the move.
Glenn Maxwell’s name started trending on Twitter with his 46 off 24 and the old debate started about his worth as a cricketer, especially with Australia set to choose its team for the first Test against India.
Different game. Different skill set. Different challenges.
But still the question never goes away.
Have we seen the last of Maxwell as a Test cricketer?
The knocks on him as a Test player are multifaceted with some holding water and some are open to challenge.
Rival teams have always reckoned he is vulnerable against short ball and decent quick will nail him.
Fair point but he not Robinson Crusoe there.
Secondly, we keep hearing Australia have never really liked the cut of his jib and the way he trains.
Thirdly, his first class record, while sound (he averages 41) and better than most of his Test rivals, has never been so imposing that he simply sends the selection room door exploding off its hinges.
If he was averaging 50-plus the selectors would have to put on their tap-dancing shoes at every team announcement. But 41? Not quite.
And because the seasons schedule has as many flavours running through it as a bowl of minestrone soup, he struggles to get a struggles to get a sustained run at it.
Maxwell’s seven first class centuries have come at the rate of about one a year.
The more white ball cricket he plays the more he becomes a fits and starts player who lacks the first class centuries needed to mount a Test case.
Australia’s hierarchy even went to the point of researching the exact number of 50s and centuries Maxwell had scored from a specific number of recent innings to have the argument ready when they were challenged by the public.
Maxwell will not be in Australia’s first Test team and this will be one of the few times when Australia’s selectors agree with his Indian Premier League franchise (the Delhi Daredevils) who have cut him.
But still he has good judges who like him.
Former long-time national selector John Benaud popped into a game in Sydney in recent seasons, put Maxwell under his discerning eye and left the ground convinced he had seen a player with significant Test potential. And he’s a tough judge.
Australia will name a fragile batting line-up for the first Test but Steve Waugh feels the home sides bowlers are so exceptional they will win the series if they make 350-plus in most Test innings.
That is no small task and you can bet it won’t happen but Waugh’s point is sound.
He knows from experience that when teams are down and dusty, bowlers are the ones who generally point the way back
The batsmen generally grow behind and beneath them. Maxwell craves to do this but there is no certainty he will get that chance.
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Originally published as Glenn Maxwell shines in Twenty20 against India — but has his Test shot come and gone?
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