Big Show back on the big stage to push credentials for India
SYDNEY (Reuters) - All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was disappointed not to get an Australia test recall during the recent overhaul of the squad but wants to use the one-day series against New Zealand to press his claims for next February's tour of India.
Australia awarded debuts to three batsmen for the third test against South Africa at Adelaide Oval last month after losing the first two matches in the series on the back of a string of batting collapses.
Although the prodigiously gifted Maxwell is better known for his all-out attack in shorter formats, he thought his recent performances had shown the sort of application that might have earned him another chance at test level.
"I thought I might have been a chance," Maxwell told reporters on Thursday.
"The way I batted in my first game back at the MCG against the reverse-swinging ball against Queensland, I thought that was a really good sign of the improvements I've made in my defence, technique and the way I leave the ball.
"But the way the selections have gone I'm probably looking at the Indian series now. I think I've probably missed the boat for the home summer."
The 28-year-old, who played the last of his three tests in 2014, was dumped from the one-day squad for their tour of Sri Lanka having struggled to score any meaningful runs and said the time away from the national set-up had helped him refocus.
"I changed a few things slightly technically and slightly mentally as well, more so the way I look at the game and the way I start my innings," Maxwell, nicknamed "Big Show", said.
"I think that's going to be a big change heading into this one-day series about starting my innings and making sure I get into the game, and not sort of throw it away too early."
Being back in the one-day squad was his first opportunity to show the selectors those changes to his game, he added, but he would be doing his best to make it as hard as possible to continue to leave him out of the test side.
"Whether that comes from white ball cricket or any sort of cricket I'm playing whether they come down and watch me at Fitzroy-Doncaster and see how I'm going in club cricket it doesn't matter," he said.
"I'm going to be trying to make as many runs and taking as many wickets and show them the improvements I have made."
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)