As one of only 16 players remaining from the first BBL season, it’s the prospect of sharing in a maiden Stars title that keeps the white-ball hero hungry
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He started out as one of Australian cricket’s wonderkids, and at his peak was the posterchild for the new era of T20 cricket.
That, though, was as far back as January 2010, when a 22-year-old Glenn Maxwell made his T20 debut for Victoria in the old state-based Twenty20 competition.
Now, aged 37 and with nearly 500 T20s to his name, Maxwell is at a totally different stage of his career.
Though his game is still about clearing fences and striking fear into the hearts of bowlers around the world, Maxwell has arguably an even bigger role to play as a guiding hand for his younger Melbourne Stars teammates, even though he is no longer the skipper.
As Maxwell told The Surge Podcast, his search for rhythm at the batting crease this summer has gone a long way towards this.
“I think last year I was probably relied on quite heavily to get us out of positions and play a different style and control a lot of what happened in the last 10 to 12 overs,” he explained.
“This year … I found I was I was probably without rhythm for a couple of weeks, and I hadn’t played much cricket post the India series, where I got back from my broken arm.
“It was about six or seven weeks without cricket, and I played a couple of club games in one day and just used that as centre wicket practice basically, just to try and get some sort of batting rhythm.
“Then I went through the first few (BBL) games where it wasn’t really needed, and I lost that rhythm again. It’s funny, I feel like I’m hitting the ball as well as everyone (at training). I get into a game, it’s still difficult to try and find that rhythm again.”
Maxwell was struck by his 82-run partnership with Sam Harper in last Saturday’s Melbourne derby, where he took a back seat to the man who is currently the leading run scorer in BBL|15.
“Batting with Harps was nice. Just to hit a couple around and be involved in a partnership. I think that’s probably the thing I’m concentrating on most now – how can I how can I be of influence without having to try and be the main man or try and hit the first three or four balls for boundaries, and just make sure the other guys are doing really well?
“I’m probably playing more of a backseat role, and making sure I’m being a good leader with the way I’m playing.
“I feel like I’ve played enough cricket to know that when the game turns up and it’s on the line that I’ll be able to perform and be able to deliver.
“That comes from years of being in this situation and being in these times where I’ll come off (having played) not much cricket and go out there.
“As soon as I get into the heat of the battle, and there’s something on the line, I’ll know to when to turn it on and hopefully perform.”
Maxwell is one of 16 active players remaining from the very first BBL season back in the summer of 2011-12. Famously, his Melbourne Stars are the only club without a BBL title to their name. It’s a quest Maxwell has been on since pulling on the green for the first time in BBL|02, and he is not shy about sharing his hopes of breaking the drought this month.
“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t lost hours of sleep thinking about it this season,” he said candidly.
“When we were 4-0 and I was going to bed at night (I was) starting to let my mind drift forward to ‘what if it is this year? What am I going to do? What’s the what’s the future hold?’.
“I’d be lying if I hadn’t started to think of that fairytale and what it looks like.
“This has been such a huge part of my career, playing at the Stars, the people that have been involved with the franchise, the impact that it’s had on my career, the timings of certain innings, moments, players that have influenced and shaped and moulded me as a person and player on and off the field has been a huge part of why I want this so much.
“They’ve given me so much.”
Though the carrot of BBL victory dangles tantalisingly within reach, Maxwell told The Surge he is hopeful of extending his career for some time yet, regardless of how the season finishes.
“What’s really excited me at the moment is how much my son (Logan) is loving coming to the games.
“He’s almost two-and-a-half now, and he absolutely loves it. He comes to the games, sits there and loves the fireworks.
“He absolutely loves the coming to the games and coming down to the rooms and seeing that afterwards.”
KFC BBL|15 standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
HUR
9
6
2
0
1
0.398
0
13
2
SCO
8
5
3
0
0
1.162
0
10
3
STA
8
5
3
0
0
0.909
0
10
4
SIX
8
4
3
0
1
0.458
0
9
5
HEA
8
4
4
0
0
-0.446
0
8
6
STR
8
3
5
0
0
-0.42
0
6
7
REN
8
3
5
0
0
-0.686
0
6
8
THU
9
2
7
0
0
-1.182
0
4
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
