Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell wants to leave no stone unturned in “building match intensity” ahead of his return to competitive cricket after a three-month gap.
Australia on Thursday (February 23) announced a full-strength squad for the upcoming ODI series against India, with fit-again Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh and Jhye Richardson also featuring in it.
While Maxwell and Marsh were out of action because of leg and ankle injuries respectively, Richardson was nursing a hamstring injury.
Maxwell admitted that he is still coming to terms with the mental side of the game after making a comeback to cricket in Victoria’s Marsh Sheffield Shield victory over South Australia this week.
“During the Shield game, probably mentally batting in that position I wasn’t quite there,” Maxwell was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “In the nets you can do all the hard work but to get that mental application back in the game is obviously a different thing.
“That’s probably something I’m working on over the next few games to try and get a few more hits out there and build up that match intensity,” he added.
Therefore, the 34-year-old has packed his off-season schedule with as many matches as possible to regain his rhythm before the ODI World Cup in India in October-November.
“Having not played for three-and-a-half months, I made a conscious decision to make sure I filled up my calendar with cricket to lead into that World Cup of the back end of the year,” Maxwell said. “We’ve got the one-day series which is going to be a big series especially with the World Cup in India and will be a good opportunity for us to try and work out some things and get our game plan ready, as well as having the IPL straight after it.”
Maxwell hopes the injury-forced break will help in prolonging his career.
“Hopefully this (forced break) will extend a little bit of time at the back end of my career and hopefully I can play some good cricket for the rest of my career.”
On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh doesn’t want to risk his career by bowling and is likely to play in India only as a batter.
“I haven’t started bowling yet, so we’ll progress that over the next few weeks. I’m confident in myself to play as a batsman, but I’ve always loved playing as an all-rounder, bowling allows me to be in the game at all times and I’ll continue to be an all-rounder for as long as I possibly can,” Marsh stated.
The three-match ODI series is scheduled to get underway on March 17 in Mumbai. Visakhapatnam and Chennai will host the second and third games on March 19 and March 22, respectively.
Australia ODI Squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
(With PTI Inputs)
