Glenn Maxwell raring to make a mark against India
Glenn Maxwell is at the peak of his confidence as he struck his second fifty playing for the Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Wednesday. Taking his team to another win at the KFC Big Bash League, the Australian all-rounder said, “I've been hitting it well for a while. Ever since the (Sheffield) Shield I feel I've been hitting them well and moving really well. (But) it hadn’t quite clicked into gear and today everything clicked and I felt really good. It's the right time to be (playing well), for the one-dayers.”
All set to make a mark against India in the upcoming series, Maxwell being most famous for his reverse sweep in international cricket found his tune as he scored an unbeaten 56 in 32 deliveries. However, Maxwell took a more orthodox batting approach in the match.
"I didn't need (my reverse sweep) tonight," Maxwell said.
"The field was set in such a way that I didn’t need it. I've always said I only play that shot to manipulate the field, and I'd manipulated it before I even played it, so it worked out beautifully. Tonight the field was set better to go over cover and look for anything short," he added.
The 27 year old was also trusted with the new ball by his captain as his team opted to field first during their match against Hobart Hurricanes. Maxwell went on a limb in the first over, bowling three wide deliveries. However, the all-rounder managed to have decent figures in bowling against his name as he ended his spell of three overs.
With figures of 1-25 the Australian entertainer felt comfortable with where his off-spin was, but not satisfied.
"I bowled a pile of junk tonight but that can happen when you get the new ball. That can happen when the ball drifts one way and it can happen with the new ball. It can sometimes drift and look worse than it is. The last two years I've been bowling really well in one-day cricket so hopefully it will all work out in Perth," he said about his bowling propositions in the Perth test against India, scheduled to start next Tuesday.
Named in the 13-man squad for Australia in the upcoming series, Maxwell is already in Perth now, in preparation for the first match. With James Faulkner and Scott Boland away with him to Perth, leaving the Melbourne Stars short, Maxwell feels that his team (the Stars) have the depth to cover the loss ratio.
"I'm sure they will be fine," he said.
"If you look back over the history, whenever the Stars have lost guys they've won the round games and still played well, it's just the semi-finals that have been an issue. So hopefully they can get over that this year and get into the final.”