Secrets behind Glenn Maxwell’s new cowboy technique

Glenn Maxwell lit up the first two ODIs against India with a technique you won’t see in any batting textbook. He doesn’t recommend trying it … but here’s why it works for him.

Glenn Maxwell’s new technique allows him to play any shot, any time

Steve Smith found his hands and his technique came good. We await further explanation. What precisely did he find? What exactly changed? Glenn Maxwell appeared to have lost something, too — his marbles — when he adopted a cowboy stance you might only really consider after a few beverages at beach cricket on Boxing Day … but he’s been brave enough to stick at it and now all his soaring creativity and flair and imagination is lighting up the ODIs against India.

“It’s made batting a little bit easier for me but it’s certainly not something I’d recommend for everyone,” he says.

It was a year ago, more or less, when Maxwell announced: “I‘ve been tinkering with a few things technically-wise and trying to work on something that’s more comfortable for me just in my set-up. It’s starting to show signs of working. I think you’ll certainly notice it … it’s different, but it’s how I feel comfortable.

“A lot of the time when you’re batting you’re trying to stick to the norm of what everyone else is doing, but I went away and worked on some things and tried to think of what made me feel comfortable at the crease, and this makes me feel comfortable. I’ll stick with it.”

And so he has. Not everyone likes it. Englishman Graeme Swann has panned the exaggerated stance, and the gripping of the bat like he’s about to slice a three-iron around the trees, saying, “It does my nut in. Hold the bat properly, Glenn.” The switches to Maxwell’s feet and grip are the most drastic technical changes since George Bailey faced South Africa with his left shoulder pointing at gully, which looked agonisingly uncomfortable and had Faf du Plessis howling with laughter at first slip. Maxwell is loose as a goose and unencumbered. Textbook technique? Eek. It’s a cowboy stance that works for him and no one else. Here’s why.

For starters, he has Popeye-sized forearms and Rod Laver’s wrist snap to generate a whole lot of bat speed. The lightning hand-eye co-ordination and ambidextrousness makes footwork less important to him than others.

When he does his small-back-and-across at the moment of delivery, he’s already in position for about 10 different shots. He lowers his centre of gravity before impact to get up and under the ball. Often he’s on bended knee to maximise the leverage.

He’s already in position for a hook or pull. He’s already in position to knock one to cow corner, or whip one off his pads anywhere between fine leg and mid-wicket. He’s basically set up for any leg-side shot you can think of, and a few you can’t. He’s already in position for the lofted back foot drives that he’s been slicing round the trees and over the fence between point.

It’s a bit of a miracle he hits any ball along the ground with that grip. He’s already in position for a square cut, or to tickle one over the keeper’s head. And he’s already in position for the reverse sweeps and left-handed pulls that have led to boundary after boundary while he’s smoked 108 runs in the ODIs — 78 of them in boundaries, nine fours and seven sixes — from just 48 deliveries at a strike rate of 225.

He takes his feet out of the equation. Doesn’t move them all that much after the ball is bowled. For all intents and purposes, he plants them pre-delivery and just leaves them where they are. He goes low and coils and springs at the ball like a boxer rising into an uppercut.

He throws his knees and hips and Popeye’s forearms and Laver’s wrists at wherever the ball may be. The obvious plan to thwart him is to bowl wide of off stump. The low-to-high sliced drives, reverse and left-handed strokes negate this. Not always, of course. He will still fall flat on his face at regular enough intervals. Forced into an off or cover drive, it’s clumsy, just shovelling the ball out. But for now, he’s struck gold by going with an underrated plan of attack. By going with what feels good, with what he thinks gives him access to every corner of the ground. But like he says, it’s not for everyone. Don’t try this at home. Well, maybe try it only at home. Don’t try it in a game.

Glenn Maxwell has smoked 108 runs in the two ODIs — 78 of them in boundaries

“It’s more getting my head level and both my eyes working at the same time,” Maxwell said after his unbeaten 65 not out on Sunday night. “When I was side on, as silly as it sounds, it felt like my left eye was closer to the action. I couldn’t get my right eye level with my other eye, I felt like I didn’t have the depth perception right.

“So I tried a few things in the nets and tried an open stance and found that really helped me pick up the ball easier. It might not look like a traditional technique but for me it works. I was able to pick up short-pitched bowling a lot easier … it’s been great to get some momentum … I think the word consistency gets thrown around a lot and it’s sometimes not easy to find in the lower order, but when the top order is doing its job as well as they are at the moment, it makes my role a lot easier.”