Will Glenn Maxwell ever play Test cricket for Australia again? He wants to. But the selectors have left him out of Australia’s Test squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and didn’t give him a game against India as well.
On his part, Maxwell has taken things in his stride and signed a County contract with Championship club Lancashire.
“I’ve certainly made it clear that I wouldn’t have gone to England this year if I wasn’t still trying to play Test cricket,” Maxwell said on the latest episode of The Unplayable Podcast.
“There’s a big thought from my side that I’m not getting enough first-class cricket in Australia and that’s probably shown by this summer – I’m only going to play two Shield games for the whole season.
“And when you play more white ball trying to get ready for that World Cup it’s going to hurt your chances of pushing forward your Test selections.
“So, I’ve taken it out of their hands and signed with a County early so at least I can give myself some sort of red-ball cricket and some sort of longer-form experience, because for a player who’s played as long as I have I certainly haven’t played the amount of first-class cricket as everyone else has.
“As [selector] Trevor Hohns said, in that white-ball World Cup let’s just hope I can make enough runs in the one-day format, wherever I’m batting, and it’s good enough to show them I have the technique and temperament to play Test cricket.”
The ‘careless whispers’ in Australia are all about how the selection committee just hasn’t allowed Maxwell to make a case for Test cricket in 2018.
For example, the grapevine says that Maxwell was told not to play county cricket in 2018 so he could rest for the Australia A tour. But then he missed that tour as he was reportedly told that he was a lock-in for the UAE Tests. Then, he didn’t make it to the Test squad because Labuschagne made a fifty on the A tour. And because he was part of the Australian ODI team, he couldn’t play any Shield cricket.
Here’s how Australian coach Justin Langer responded to a question on Maxwell:
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