We are at the business end of the tournament. It cannot possibly get bigger than this, the world cup being the mother of all cricketing battles. India are on their way home. New Zealand, staring at Lord’s, are waiting to take on the winners of today’s game. England, everybody’s favorite infallible unit, could well be feeling some nerves.
And Australia, who made it to the semis before any other, are perhaps going to go for a kill.
But guess what? Ahead of the big semi-final, one that either side would consider a mini-final of sorts, one man is due for a big one.
It’s not David Warner, with scores of 122, 166, and 107 against his name. It’s not the returning Steven Smith either. Nor is it Aaron Finch, arguably the coolest leader of men as the ongoing World Cup revealed.
It’s Glenn Maxwell.
But one wonders, where’s his Big Show? What’s become of “Mad Max,” a man accustomed to carving bowlers to all shapes and sizes, making them less of men and more of hapless, tried bodies desperate to get the better of him?
We all know what happens when the ball finds the sweet spot of his blade. As the clichéd commentary suggests, when “he hits it, it stays hit.”
But has any of that surfaced thus far?
The good part for Glenn Maxwell is that versus England, a side against whom he’s plundered 658 of his 2300 ODI runs, he’ll have an opportunity to indulge in his ball-smashing shenanigans again.
The bad news, though, is that it may just be one last opportunity for him to fire.
There aren’t many games lying ahead for Australia. It’s the grand finale ahead on July 14.
So how about firing some blazing darts against the quartet of Woakes, Archer, Wood and Stokes, Glenn?
Surely, his captain wouldn’t mind any of that especially that his premier marksman down the order has only collected lowly scores of 12, 1 and 12 in the last 3 outings.
Maxwell is a hell lot better than that. Is he not?
But there’s hope. It’s a do or die. Something’s gotta give. And truth be told, till when can Australia only rely on the abilities of the redoubtable Warner and Finch and Smith who’s not really been playing at his peak powers.
Imagine a situation. Woakes and Archer come steaming in and suddenly inside the first five overs, Australia are 2 down. All the pressure up on Smith, someone will have to rise to the occasion.
That Marsh and Khwaja are out of the context now, Maxwell, you’d think has a golden opportunity to stamp his authority on the game, something he’s utterly failed to do this world cup.
Need proof? Here’s some. From the 10 games he’s featured insofar, he’s gathered no more than 155 runs. A personal best of an unbeaten 46 against Sri Lanka the other day did demonstrate that the usually solid and gutsy ball-buster was back.
But then Maxwell was his own undoing.
Usually, when you see Glenn Maxwell on the screen, you aren’t concerned with the run-rate for you know that the man is more than capable of turning it around in a couple of overs and sometimes, even earlier.
The freakish sixes over mid-on, the smashing hits behind square leg, the innovation over extra cover, all of these put forth the portrait of a man who can you can trust to destruct.
Just that none of that has happened so far. To put it clearly, when on song, Maxwell= Stoinis+Marsh.
There’s the occasional slow-bowling as well.
But the time for all of it to fire today, Glenn Maxwell. Time for a Big Show.
