Melbourne, Nov 30 (IANS): After returning home from a nearly two-month-long tour of India. which included winning the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell said he hasn’t given up on his quest to play Test cricket post his stunning exploits in white-ball cricket.
Maxwell played the last of his seven Tests in 2017 but slammed two centuries in Australia’s victorious Men’s ODI World Cup campaign –- a 40-ball hundred against the Netherlands and an astonishing 201 not out against Afghanistan, as well as 47-ball ton in the third T20I against India at Guwahati may propel selectors to give him a Test recall.
“I haven’t given up; I think I’ve just got to be realistic about the timings of the way I’ve been playing my white-ball cricket. You play a World Cup and then you don’t play any Shield cricket, you play at the back end of summer in a white ball and don’t play any Shield cricket, so it’s just the way it’s gone over the last 10 years of my career really,” Maxwell was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald at Melbourne airport.
The report further said the Australian selectors have told Maxwell of him being in their plans for the Test tour of Sri Lanka in 2025, after missing out on this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy trip to India due to a freak leg injury.
Maxwell also hit the winning runs for Australia in their six-wicket final win against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, a moment he feels will be etched in his memory forever.
“The two runs in the final were pretty cool. I don’t think anything’s going to top that. Even though there were moments during the tournament individually, I think that final... nothing’s going to top that.”
Maxwell’s return to the Test arena is also something which two-time ODI World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting has also endorsed. "I could see him getting back into a Test line-up because of the all-round game that he brings in those conditions."
"The (201) not out in that game against Afghanistan, which is the most remarkable one-day innings I've ever seen. I've been around a lot of games, watched a lot of games, played a lot of games, I've never seen anything like that," he said on SEN Radio.