Cricket World Cup hero Glenn Maxwell has always been Aussie cricket’s misunderstood magician

Before bookending a golf cart accident with World Cup masterclasses, Glenn Maxwell confounded coaches and captains to the point of exile. His place in Australian cricket has been complicated, writes DANIEL CHERNY.

In the depths of Melbourne’s winter, with the Ashes having finished and cricket already a distant afterthought for the average Australian sporting fan, Glenn Maxwell was at the Junction Oval’s indoor nets, working on a new shot.

To length balls pitching outside off-stump, Maxwell would move his front foot well out of the way on the leg side, slide his back foot deep into the crease to get low, and then crack a horizontal-batted shot through the off-side. Textbooks teach players to get to the pitch of the ball. Maxwell had actively sought to move away from it.

On a wagon wheel it would have presented as a cover drive, but there was nothing orthodox about it.

Of course there wasn’t. This was Maxwell, a player unable to be reined in by the bounds of orthodoxy, no matter how hard the system may have sought to do so over the years.

On October 25, Maxwell cracked the quickest century in World Cup history as he carted the Netherlands attack at the death in Delhi. On November 7, Maxwell then produced what has been widely acclaimed as the greatest one-day international innings ever to haul Australia back from the dead with a double ton against Afghanistan.

In the less than fortnight between those two innings, he fell off a moving golf cart at the end of an afternoon of merriment with teammates and Australian support staff, forcing him to miss the match against England.

Glenn Maxwell hits out during his astonishing 201 not out against Afghanistan at the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

In theory, Maxwell could have played both innings without the accident – which had followed his broken leg suffered in a party mishap late last year – wedged between them. But Maxwell the man and Maxwell the cricketer cannot be easily disentangled. Notwithstanding that he turned 35 last month and became a father in September, he continues to tread the fine line between recklessness and genius. There is more than a hint of Peter Pan about the boy from South Belgrave.

Clint Cooper worked closely with Maxwell at the Melbourne Stars, where the former was chief executive until a Cricket Victoria restructure in 2019 left he and Melbourne Renegades counterpart Stuart Coventry out of jobs.

Cooper said Maxwell wouldn’t be properly appreciated for years to come.

“He is a wonderful human and a little misunderstood at times, but has unbelievable courage and belief,” Cooper told this masthead.

Glenn Maxwell celebrates after his astonishing 201* against Afghanistan, sealed with a six. Picture: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

In the final match of the 2018-19 Big Bash League regular season, the Stars needed to beat the Sydney Sixers at the MCG to qualify for the finals.

With their side batting first, Victoria and Stars wicketkeeper Seb Gotch, who has since retired, joined Maxwell in the middle at 5-116 with just 19 balls remaining in the innings.

Maxwell instructed his new partner just to hit the ball as high in the air as possible to hand over the strike. They duly combined for 52, of which the latter made just one, from one ball faced.

It was the precursor to Maxwell’s twin stands with Pat Cummins against Netherlands and Afghanistan respectively, in which the Australian captain provided more company than runs.

Glenn Maxwell and Seb Gotch celebrate their remarkable BBL partnership against the Sixers at the MCG in 2019. Picture: Mike Owen/Getty Images

Maxwell’s free spirit has not always been allowed to shine through, however. He naturally flummoxes with things he says and does, and not everyone in relevant positions of authority has been so willing to take a laissez faire approach.

Most famously, Maxwell’s training habits were called into question by then-Australian captain Steve Smith after Maxwell was omitted from the national one-day side in early 2018.

It all paled into insignificance within a few months, following the events of Cape Town, but Smith’s assertion that Maxwell could “train a little bit smarter” by focusing more on the basics and less on his expansive repertoire created a storm.

Glenn Maxwell (R) celebrates with Steve Smith (L) after taking the wicket of South Africa's Quinton de Kock at the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Picture: Sajjad Hussain/AFP

Maxwell was eventually recalled, but was not always the flavour of the month during Justin Langer’s subsequent tenure as coach. Glaringly contrasting characters, Maxwell was not picked once for Test cricket during the Langer era, and was dropped on the back of an underwhelming 2019 World Cup.

Whether through causation or just coincidence, Maxwell is thriving under Langer’s successor Andrew McDonald.

It is easy to forget that McDonald – when coach of the Vics – was part of a group that omitted Maxwell from the state’s Sheffield Shield side in 2016, not long after Maxwell had unsuccessfully sought a move to NSW.

The tension of that time has long since been cast into history. McDonald, a senior Victorian player when Maxwell entered the domestic scene, said the all-rounder had ultimately remained the same person.

Justin Langer watches Glenn Maxwell bat during an Australian training session in 2019. Polar-opposite characters, there was friction between the pair. Picture: Brett Costello

“We all saw him (when he arrived), he was a coach’s nightmare really,” McDonald said.

“The balls (were going) around everywhere, there was so much error, but over time he’s been able to tighten up that error, his decision-making has improved and we see the player that we see now and I think the game’s better for it.

“Most coaches will coach the individual and then bring that into the team framework, there’s no doubt about that. You don’t want to stall creativity. If Glenn Maxwell was stalled 10 years ago, you wouldn’t have seen what we saw a couple of days ago. But it’s all down to him. He sees the game differently, some of the options that he takes, the work that he’s put in; even in the field, some of the things that he does in the field, he does things differently and never ceases to amaze.”

Tuesday night in Mumbai may have seemed like the culmination, yet McDonald suggests there’s plenty still to come.

“I think he’s stayed true to himself. His creativity is second to none, the way he sees the game, the options that he has. The investment that goes into those types of shots over time and the ability for coaches to give him the space to be creative, to then see that eventuate in a World Cup game when you need 290 and you’re seven down, all that work that he’s put in almost paid off in one night and gave us something special.

“It’s an incredible journey. It’s not ended for him in terms of people saying that’s his moment, I think he’s still got moments ahead that he’s going to wow and amaze us.”