Australia cricket team’s new head coach Andrew McDonald has said that limited overs specialist Glenn Maxwell may be included in the Test squad for the three-test series on the Sri Lanka tour.
Throughout the last couple of years, the Kangaroo team has to play limited overs series along with Tests. Glenn Maxwell’s name is only in the limited overs team, while he has not been given a place in the Test team.
Despite speculation that his name would be included in the Test squad as well, Cricket Australia (CA) last week named the 33-year-old in the white-ball squad only. The limited-overs specialist has played only seven Tests during his career and the last of them was in 2017 when he scored 38 and 25 not out against Bangladesh in Chittagong.
The team’s new coach, who has taken over from Justin Langer, says that we would like to harness the power of Maxwell’s ball and bat. McDonald knows that Maxwell can do well on Asian pitches. He scored a century against India in Ranchi, a knock of 104 off 185 deliveries which was skilfully engineered.
Speaking to SEN, the coach said, “It is always a contemplation (to include Maxwell) and I think at one point there were 32 players there (in Sri Lanka), all options are still open.”
“So you never know what’s going to happen. He has a great record in the subcontinent and in India especially in Ranchi with hundreds and he can give us off-spin too,” he added. McDonald said it was imperative for Cricket Australia to be loyal to the Test team that won the three-match Test series 1-0 against Pakistan in March and this was one of the reasons for Maxwell’s ouster from the Test berth.”
Glenn Maxwell is a special talent. The way he has been used in Australian squad is always a matter of question. At the age of 33, he is in best form and he can be well used in Test Cricket matches. However, his playing style doesn’t rightly fits with requirements of test cricket but his talent can override all these factors.