Glenn Maxwell has admitted that he was “shattered” to not be selected for Australia’s most recent Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle; however, the experience has only rekindled his desire to play Test cricket once more, especially considering that Australia will be touring India in the early months of next year.
After initially failing to make the cut for Australia’s Test squad to travel to Sri Lanka, Maxwell was unexpectedly included in the team as a replacement for Travis Head, who sustained an injury. Since September of 2017, he had not participated in a cricket test match, and the most recent first-class game he had participated in was in October of 2019.
Maxwell came really close to playing in the first test that was held in Galle; however, Head prevailed in a fitness test and was able to keep his spot. He was even closer to playing in the second Test when it was revealed by the skipper Pat Cummins that Maxwell was in line to play at No. 8 in place of Mitchell Starc if the pitch in Galle was going to be a duplicate of the surface that was used in the first Test. This brought the possibility of Maxwell playing in the second Test even closer.
But things shifted drastically, and a much calmer hitting surface became available, and Maxwell was unable to capitalise on the opportunity.
Maxwell has stated that he was devastated when he learned that he would not be participating in the second test. “It’s not that I think they made the wrong choice; I’m just really upset with how things turned out.
“I had a strong desire to participate. I cherished the opportunity to be a part of it (Test cricket), and I cherished the possibility that I would compete once again.
“Even though I hadn’t given Test cricket much thought for a few years, I had the feeling that I was getting back into playing shape. It was a lot of fun to collaborate with the instructors and think of different strategies to deal with challenging spin bowling and balls exploding.
“I am relieved that Heady was able to pass the fitness test because it would have been a terrible situation for me to be in if one of your guys had gotten hurt. In a sad turn of events, they altered the requirements. If the conditions were the same for both tests, it’s likely that I would have participated in both of them. However, they did manage to create a somewhat better wicket, and the selectors’ decision was the correct one.
“I tried not to get too excited or get my hopes up too much because I know, having been in that situation so many times and been on the wrong side of it, the ups and downs of selection and the 50-50 calls… but yeah, I allowed myself to get a little bit too excited,” she said. “It’s because I know, having been in that situation so many times and been on the wrong side of it, the ups and downs of selection and the 50-50 calls.”
Maxwell also disclosed that he felt a lot more love and positivity around the possibility of his return to the Test team than he had in the past, even if he did express regret that his batting style wasn’t more embraced while he was a part of the Test team between the years of 2014 and 2017.
“I feel like I probably didn’t have that backing in the early days of my Test career, so it’s sure wonderful to have that now,” Maxwell said. “It’s certainly nice to have support.” “It was most likely the opposite way around, in which it was simply stated that this individual cannot be included on the team. Therefore, it’s kind of refreshing to watch it evolve. When I came back into the side in 2017, it seemed like there was an actual movement toward optimism heading my way, which was an extremely rare occurrence.
“For a very long time, whenever I played a reverse sweep, it was looked down upon, but now it is considered a standard shot in test cricket regardless of where you play in the world. It is played by everyone.
“So the question is, where was this when I needed it six years ago? When I was performing, it would have been good if people had looked at me and said, “oh, visionary” [laughs]. Uzzie [Usman Khawaja] plays 300 of them, and because he’s a superstar, [he] gets 150, and like, [we] bow down to him. [Cricket fans]”
Following Head’s disappointing performances in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where his best score in five Tests was 26, Maxwell is now in excellent position to play in the four-Test tour of India that will take place in the following year. Head has played seven matches in Asia and has never once scored more over 50 runs; his current average is 21.30. Maxwell has played all seven of his Tests in Asia, although his batting average in the region is only 26.07 points. In addition, he has only once reached the 50-mark, although he scored a magnificent century in Ranchi during Australia’s final test tour of India in 2017.
