Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has thrown his support behind the lucrative T20 contracts offered to international cricketers, explaining that they’re a beneficial part of the game’s development.
Already known as ‘The Big Show’, Maxwell took it up a notch last week by commanding more than a million dollars in the IPL auction, when he was sold to the Kings XI Punjab IPL franchise.
It’s the second season in a row that Maxwell has collected a seven-figure IPL contract and the big-hitting right-hander was quick to quash any talk of the T20 format sending a bad message to young cricketers.
“I think it sends a good message to kids as far as telling them that they can make a career at cricket,” Maxwell said.
“Kids see that there are millions of opportunities in AFL, but only 11 in cricket. Now they know that they can earn that kind of money in a couple of weeks and maybe that starts them playing.
“They might end up in the longer format, they might enjoy cricket that way, but what it’s doing is getting kids involved.”
The dual million-dollar man will be hoping the next generation are well on their way, with his Victorian side languishing at the bottom of the Sheffield Shield table following an innings and 48-run defeat at the hands of New South Wales last week - a defeat that could have been much worse if not for Maxwell's two innings match tally of 221 runs.
“It was a pretty disappointing match all-round to tell you the truth,” he said.
“To get that many runs and have no impact on the game is pretty frustrating for the whole team.”
Despite his support for short-form cricket, Maxwell cites the KFC Big Bash League, and a lack of continuity, as a possible explanation for Victoria’s struggles.
“We’ve been jumping from format to format. We’ve had an unsettled side for a while with guys going to T20, one day cricket and in and out of the
Australian teams,” he explains.
“We haven’t had a consistent group all year.”
Formats aside, Maxwell acknowledged the need for change to come from within the team.
“I think it’s time for us to stand up, take account of ourselves and just do the job,” he said.
“At this level, there are no excuses to say you can’t adjust between those formats.”
The perfect example of this resilience may lie just across the Tasman, with T20 star, and Black Caps captain, Brendon McCullum bringing up his country’s first ever triple-century in the second Test against India.
“The fact that someone can face 580 balls and still have the concentration to keep going; that’s amazing,” Maxwell said.
“Test cricket hasn’t taken away his natural flair, but he harnesses it a lot better than most players. He’s a big one that I can look up to and hopefully follow in his footsteps.”
First up for Maxwell however, is the Bushrangers’ Sheffield Shield clash against top-of-the-table South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, starting on Thursday.
Victoria will field a vastly different side to the one that found themselves 6-9 against the Blues with internationals, Aaron Finch, Dan Christian, Clint McKay and James Muirhead, missing out along with Peter Handscomb.
Rob Quiney, Michael Hill, Jon Holland, Fawad Ahmed and young quick, Jake Reed, will come into the side.
Reed is currently leading the Victorian Premier Cricket wicket-taking list (with 46), picking up 25 wickets at just over eight runs across his last four matches.
Following on from Thursday’s Shield encounter, Maxwell will leave for South Africa to work with Shane Warne ahead of three T20s and the ICC T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia
