Glenn Maxwell says Australian T20 team has never had power hitters like Cam Green, Tim David
Batters as tall as AFL ruckmen that can hit the ball out of any ground in the world are turning the Australian T20 team into a different beast.
The injection of big-hitting powerhouses Cameron Green and Mitch Owen into the batting order alongside Tim David could turn Australia into an unstoppable T20 powerhouse according to veteran star Glenn Maxwell.
Australis is undefeated in four games in the West Indies having twice chased down totals of more than 200 to win, with David’s freakish 37-ball century in the third game a standout performance.
But Green, who has come in at No.3 in all four games in a new move, is his team’s leading run-scorer with 173 runs, including three half-centuries, and is average 86 at a strike rate above 160.
His 12 sixes is the most of any teams and Maxwell, who opened the batting but said he was only warming the seat for absent Travois Head, said the emergence of the new crop of power hitters, including Owen, who made a half-century on debut in the opener, was exciting for Australian cricket.
“It’s been great to see the growth of some of the guys and ‘Greeny’ in this series has been absolutely outstanding (with three half-centuries in four innings),” Maxwell said.
“We’re seeing him turn into a really consistent and solid T20 player and it’s just so exciting for Australian cricket to see these guys with this sort of power and it’s going to be dangerous for a lot of teams heading forward.”
Maxwell said the sort of hitting provided by the likes of Green and David, who has 11 sixes in just two innings in the series, plus Owen and even Josh Inglis, could be the missing link to significant Australian success in the format with Head to return.
“I think the way we’re probably going to set up our T20 side heading forward is you’ve got Travis up the top, you’ve got Mitch Marsh who is captaining us brilliantly at the moment.
“‘Ingo’ (Josh Inglis) is doing a great job at No.3 and the rest of the order falls into place around that.
“We’ve got some unbelievable power hitting at the moment, we’ve seen some guys really put their hand up – Tim David, Mitch Owen and Cameron Green – throughout the middle.
“They’re three pretty big blokes with big reach and they hit the ball an absolute mile, so it’s great to have those guys with that extra bit of power in the middle order.
“It’s not something we’ve had an abundance of over the years and to have that at our disposal at the moment is pretty exciting.”
Australia will look to complete a 5-0 clean sweep in the final game in St Kitts on Tuesday.
Originally published as Glenn Maxwell says Australian T20 team has never had power hitters like Cam Green, Tim David