For years, the explosive Glenn Maxwell has promised plenty without always living up to the expectations and not always getting the opportunities to. But in Australia’s hour of need he is finally taking the mantle and the results have begun to show.
The last 11 months or so have been among the most difficult the Australian cricket team has faced in modern history. After the ball-tampering scandal broke out in Newlands, which resulted in lengthy suspensions for David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, the team tumbled and fumbled into a long downward spiral.
After that episode, Australia couldn’t seem to buy themselves a series win against a full member country across the three formats. They were bruised by Pakistan in UAE, battered by South Africa at home and conceded their first Test series defeat to India on home soil; the win against Sri Lanka came as some solace.
CENTURY! What an extraordinary performance from Glenn Maxwell to bring up his third T20I century from 50 balls. Take a bow! #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/IsYCMOGRo4
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 27, 2019
Australia’s problems in limited-overs cricket have been more deep-rooted. Since January 2017, they haven’t won a single one-day international series, even losing at home to England, South Africa and India in that period, their woes stretching back to well before the ball-tampering scandal broke out.
This series win will be a mighty morale-boost for Australia, and with the ODI World Cup looming on the horizon that is going to be crucial. In accomplishing this, Australia have shown that they can defeat the best of teams even without Warner and Smith. There’s little doubt that those two will only fortify the team’s batting stocks. But if Australia are to truly be a contender for their sixth title, one suspects Maxwell will have a key role to play.
