Hobart: Cricket fans in this picturesque city had been waiting patiently for the two superstars of the ongoing World Cup: Kumar Sangakkara and Glenn Maxwell to face off.
After Sangakkara pleased everyone with a century on Wednesday, the fans are now waiting to see some fireworks from Maxwell against Scotland on Saturday.
They all love to call him ‘Mad Max’ based on the movie series.
The Australian team management had announced that Maxwell will talk to the media at the airport itself, forcing everyone to rush to the airport before the start of the Sri Lanka-Scotland match.
One of the major queries thrown at Maxwell, who hit his maiden century against Sri Lanka in Sydney during his last match, was about his sparkling form. To everyone’s surprise, he was humble in his response. “It’s nice that I can ride the wave at the moment, but I know how quickly it can turn around to wondering where my next runs are going to be, so it’s about trying to keep that going as much as I can.”
Maxwell has displayed a huge appetite for runs, averaging 64.25 at a strike rate of 190.37, but he strongly believes luck has backed him for the kind of strokes that he has played which has amazed everyone. “A lot of it comes down to a little bit of luck. You get a little bit of luck and then you get a bit of a run on and it all seems to steamroller for you. Nothing major, it’s not like I changed anything technically.”
Maxwell is hoping his form will get him a place in the Australian Test squad as he is mostly considered an instant cricket player. “I would love to be touring the Windies and love to be touring England for the Ashes, but again it just comes down to how well I’m performing. Hopefully [that includes] making runs for the rest of this World Cup and hopefully in the IPL as well. I think that’s going to be another thing for me to continue to make runs,” he said.
“If you’re making runs, it’s your best form of currency, it doesn’t matter what format of the game it is. The way I think I am going to get back into the Test team is by playing really well during this World Cup.”
Explaining his philosophy towards the game, Maxwell said: “Obviously putting scores on the board, but bowling a lot of overs and taking wickets as well. I still think I’ve got a fair bit of work to do to prove I’m ready to have another crack at Test cricket again, but when you’re not playing a lot of Shield cricket you’ve just got to play as well as you can whenever you get the opportunity to play for Australia.”
