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A look into Maxwell’s book of batting

Sun 17 Jan 2016, 10:29 pm

A look into Maxwell’s book of batting
Summary

Australia all-rounder speaks about his progress as a batsman over the last few months

After making three out of three, Glenn Maxwell who led Australia’s surge towards a 3-0 series win said his side were looking to wrap up the series 5-0 and later look to dominate in the 3-match T20I series as well. “We are looking forward to the rest of the games, Maxwell said. “But first up we have to win this series 5-0 which is something we're desperate to do. Hopefully we can win the T20s 3-0.” The all-rounder was also happy that the young side could take an unassailable lead in the series with most of their prime players missing from the squad. “It is satisfying because of the amount of players we're missing from that World Cup side. Despite of lacking the experience, our younger players have come in and done the job for the country. I think we have such a fresh group that it's probably easier for the guys to come in and it makes it a bit easier.” This was Australia’s third successive run-chase in the series and Maxwell applauded the side’s ‘commendable’ effort. “It's amazing the way our team has been playing and the way we've been approaching those chases. I don't think many teams are doing it like we are at the moment as comfortably as it looks. To do it three times in a row is pretty phenomenal and probably shows why we're No.1 in the world. It's a backing from the coach to play with everything on the line. It doesn’t matter if you die trying, that's fine as long as you give it a crack. That's what we’ve been brought up to do and we've been doing it really well this series.” As confident as he sounded in the post match addressing, Maxwell was confident in the run-chase as well. He plundered the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground on his way to an 83-ball 96. Even when wickets were tumbling the other end, Maxwell decimated the chase with ease. Maxwell gave a sneak peek into Maxwell’s book of batting. “I have areas that I want to hit the ball. I think it's pretty obvious on the field where I've tried to hit the ball and I haven't really worried about how I look in trying to hit the ball there. I think people get caught up in attractive batting, good looking shots with balls getting hit to the fielder. I've always thought that it doesn't matter how it looks, as long as you get it to the fence. I don't look to be an attractive batsman. I just always try and get the job done. It's probably one of the things I've failed to do in the past few years. I've scored quickly and scored a few runs in ODI cricket, but have not got the job done. But tonight was a big step forward.” When asked if the chase was a mentally draining one Maxwell said, “I was pretty stuffed when I got off. I was trying to do the maths to see who had overs left, who we could target, think of fields, what they'll have in a couple of overs and how we'll target that as well. I think that was the most draining thing out of it all. The fact that Faulkner was so calm made it worse for me because I wasn't catching any of that calmness. But he was really good to bat with and made the job a lot easier. He was finding gaps, getting off strike and doing everything right.” Personally, Maxwell was happy with his progress as a batsman. “Batting at 5 I have realised the role I have to play. I understand that not every day I am going to come in in the last 10-15 overs and I have a license to hit every ball for 4 or 6. It's about adapting. Early on in my career I probably got a little too excited about trying to strike at 150 each game and be the match-winner in each game and I didn't really finish a job. I felt I made good strides in England and had some good innings and I think even more recently for the Stars I feel I've done well and controlled some of the games. It's been a massive work in progress; I've been doing some stuff off the field around the metal side of the game which is the most important thing.”