Ricky Ponting believes he can help Glenn Maxwell realise his enormous potential
WITH Glenn Maxwell’s international career at the crossroads, Ricky Ponting snared the enigmatic all-rounder for his IPL franchise with a plan to unlock Australia’s biggest untapped resource.
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RICKY Ponting has declared he is the man to reignite Glenn Maxwell.
With the enigmatic all-rounder’s international career at the crossroads, Ponting has revealed how headhunting Maxwell to play for his Indian Premier League franchise Delhi at last weekend’s auction was a deliberate ploy inspired by a belief he can unlock Australia’s biggest untapped resource.
Ponting is serving as Darren Lehmann’s assistant for the Twenty20 tri-series kicking off on Saturday night against New Zealand at the SCG and has confirmed he has been talking with Cricket Australia for more than six months about the prospect of taking over as their specialist T20 head coach for the next World Cup.
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For Ponting — a cricket mastermind at the forefront of Australia’s future plans — to want to invest $1.7 million in Maxwell and relish the chance to act as his mentor in the IPL, shapes as the 29-year-old’s passport back to fulfilling his enormous potential.
Maxwell has admitted he is uncertain about where or if he fits into Australia’s thinking across the three forms of the game after a summer where he was snubbed from the Test side and dumped from the one-day team.
However, Ponting is adamant he knows how to drive Maxwell back from the brink.
“Yeah I do. That was the main reason I went as hard for him as I did (in the IPL auction),” Ponting told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’ve been pretty close to Maxi for a few years and I think I know how to get the best out of him. I’ve already had a chat to him about what my expectations are of him by the time we get to Delhi.
“I think he’s already turned a bit of a corner himself anyway to be honest. I think there’s a lot of positive signs for him. He knows I’ve got his back, but he also knows what my expectations are of him through the next few months.”
Over the coming two and a half years Australia will set out to defend their 50-over World Cup crown in the UK, try and win their maiden World Twenty20 and look to reclaim their lost crown as the No. 1 Test side in the world.
Ponting believes Maxwell can be a key part of it all.
“I just think having the right people around him on a consistent basis (can be the difference). I think the fact I’ll have him there for a couple of months and I’ll be in his ear and in his back pocket and pushing him and working him hard the whole time, that’s why I think I can get the best out of him that way,” said Ponting.
“I’m not saying he hasn’t had the right people around him in this (Australian) environment because I know what this environment is like, it’s choc full of great people.
“I just think he needs to understand that, the faith I’ve shown in him — we’ve spent a lot of money on him and I expect him to win a lot of games for Delhi.
“He can end up being in all three international teams for Australia, that’s the bottom line.”
Despite the likes of Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith unavailable for the tri-series against New Zealand and England, Ponting believes the best of the Big Bash League led by D’Arcy Short can help Australia rediscover their groove after a poor one-day summer.
Ponting has clear coaching ambitions and believes his forensic study of the BBL as a commentator has him well positioned to help Australia conquer their demons in Twenty20 cricket if he does decide to take a full-time coaching job ahead of the next shortest-form World Cup on home soil in 2020.
“That’s been the discussion that I’ve had now for six or eight months to be honest. I think they’ve made it pretty clear they’re looking at separating the T20 coach away from the other formats and I’ve spoken to them a lot about it,” he said.
“There’s nothing set in stone at all. The fact I’m around this week will be good for me and good for Cricket Australia to just get a bit of an insight as to what I might be able to offer and it gives me a good chance as well just to work out if it’s what I want to do.”
Meanwhile, Travis Head has been released from the Australian squad to play for the Adelaide Strikers in Friday night’s BBL semi-final.