‘So funny’: Glenn Maxwell spills beans on absurd detail of innings

Aussie hero Glenn Maxwell has spilled the beans on a ridiculous conversation he had during his slaughter of Afghanistan.

Imagine what he could have done if he was actually switched on.

Aussie hero Glenn Maxwell has spilled the beans on what was really going on during his partnership with Pat Cummins as the all-rounder stormed Australia to victory over Afghanistan at the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday morning.

Cummins had the best seat in the house as Maxwell went berserk in an explosive innings being described as the “greatest of all time”

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Maxwell has now revealed he and Cummins were cracking gags with each other during their 202-run partnership, describing the idea of chasing down Afghanistan’s 292-run total after collapsing to 7/91 as “funny”.

“When I was shuffling between wickets and looking up at the change rooms, I just see them all laughing at the same time as well,” Maxwell said on BBC’s ‘No Balls: The Cricket Podcast’.

“It sort of took the sting out of it as well. I didn’t feel like there was added pressure or anything like that, so I wasn’t sort of badly, like ‘We could almost pull off a miraculous win’. It was just like, ‘This would be so funny if we got this done’.

“And I’m waddling between overs and ever single was funny. That was just it. It took the sting out of any sort of pressure of the game.”

It’s Glenn Maxwell’s world, we’re just living in it. Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP.

He went on to describe the absurd conversation he shared with Cummins.

“There was a wide at one stage and I sort of went down, laughed,” he said.

“I went down (and said), ‘Don’t worry we’ll get these in extras’. They’re giving us runs, no worries.

“And then I think the scoreboard flashed up that they were four overs behind, and Pat Cummins goes, ‘Oh they’re four overs down. Don’t worry we’ll get them in the last four overs when they’ve got an extra fielder inside the ring’.

“We took the mickey so much out of each other out there. Not ‘took the mickey’, but we had a smile on our face the whole time and we just tried to keep it as chilled out and as laid back as we possibly could. We didn’t really talk about winning until we got down to maybe the last 10 overs.”

An Australian hero - and Glenn Maxwell. Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP.

Meanwhile, Aussie coach Andrew McDonald believes Maxwell’s bowling could be just as vital to Australia’s hopes of winning the World Cup.

Even though the off-spinner has taken only five wickets at an expensive average of 52 he boasts the best economy rate of any Australia bowler, conceding just 4.95 runs per over at this World Cup.

Australia still have one group game, against Bangladesh in Pune on Saturday, before a semi-final against South Africa — the last team to defeat them in pool play in India before they went on a six-game winning streak — in either Mumbai or Kolkata next week.

McDonald has no doubts about Maxwell’s role in support of in-form leg-spinner Adam Zampa.

“Him (Maxwell) as the second spinner has been really pivotal in the role that he’s played,” McDonald told Australian on Thursday.

“We talk about him and his batting in one space, but I think his bowling has allowed us to function as a team differently to potentially how we saw it coming in and potentially how everyone else saw it coming in.”

Good work Pat. Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP.

Steve Smith missed the Afghanistan game following a bout of vertigo, a condition that has troubled the star batsman several times in recent years.

“He feels pretty good today, I saw him in the corridor,” McDonald said of the 34-year-old Smith, who was ruled out shortly before the toss after training on the outfield.

“I feel like it (the game) just happened at the wrong time for him not to play, whereas if it had been 24 hours later, then it might have been a different decision.”

McDonald added: “He was battling with his balance on certain shots. He went through some running between the wickets as well which probably aggravated it a little bit more.” With a place in the last four guaranteed, Australia do have the option to rest key players against Bangladesh.

But that could mean they have over a week’s break before the South Africa match. “Is that ideal?” said McDonald. “It might be for some but for others you want that continuity of playing to get ready for what will be a great challenge that is South Africa.”

Originally published as ‘So funny’: Glenn Maxwell spills beans on absurd detail of innings