Q&A: Aussie limited-overs superstar Glenn Maxwell answers reader questions

Glenn Maxwell says his Test career has been a victim of bad timing and team balance. And he has revealed he came agonisingly close to playing at the MCG.

Glenn Maxwell says he has been a victim of bad timing as he revealed he came agonisingly close to playing in a Boxing Day Test.

The Victorian all-rounder is a superstar in one-day and T20 cricket but has played just seven Tests for Australia — all overseas.

The closest he came to playing front of his home crowd was in 2012.

“I look back at about 2012, when I first was close to the Test squad, there was a chance I was going to play the Boxing Day Test. No one really knew,” he said in a Q&A with NewsCorp readers on Friday.

Maxwell said he was about to head to the airport to fly interstate for a BBL game when “I got called in for cover for Shane Watson at 7.30 in the morning.

“I got called in, and (told) ‘If Shane Watson doesn’t come up today, you’re playing’. He got through the fitness test and then got injured in the first innings.

“Then I called into the Sydney Test, (but) Australia went with five bowlers for first time in a long time and I unluckily missed out.

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Glenn Maxwell in one of his seven Tests for Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014.

“Just timing, I don’t think at time it was ever right. It can happen in international cricket. You have to get the timing right.

“With the Boxing Day Test in 2012 I’d already handed my phone in. I couldn’t even tell my mates or my family. Wasn’t quite to be.”

One of only a select few to have appeared in over 100 ODIs for Australia, Maxwell has scored over 3000 runs and taken 50 wickets. And his record at T20 level is even better, scoring 1609 runs at 35.52 and taking 28 wickets.

The 32-year-old, just back from an Indian Premier League campaign with King’s XI Punjab, will headline a star-studded Aussie line-up ready to take on Virat Kohli’s India starting from next week.

Australia face India in three ODIs starting on Friday, November 27 at the SCG before a long-awaited three-game T20 set starting on Friday, December 4. All matches are live and exclusive to Fox Sports.

Replay his Q&A below

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Originally published as Q&A: Aussie limited-overs superstar Glenn Maxwell answers reader questions