Cricket - Maxwell and Wade at The Crossroads
Maxwell and Wade at Crossroads
It's not often a side loses 12 straight road ODI's without significant repercussions, and Australia find themselves at that juncture right now. Two players that a few months ago found themselves as vital cogs in both Test and ODI sides in Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell now find themselves looking over their shoulder wondering where they both stand with a huge summer of Ashes cricket ahead of us.
Wade has already felt the axe fall on him after he was dropped in favour of Peter Handscomb for Australia's loss in the 3rd One Day International against India. Wade has struggled mightily of late, having failed to post a double-figure score in his past five innings in One-Day Cricket and past three Test matches. I have never been a huge fan of Wade as a Number 1 option at this level, given his keeping remains inconsistent, despite close to a decade on the scene. Heneeds to be scoring runs consistently and he has looked a bit frazzled in the mind of late with the bat. Wade is a scrapper and a fighter, so naturally when he is out of form he is going to look particularly ugly.
Wade was brought back to inject some mongrel and fighting qualities into the Australian Test team and, despite not firing with the bat, that side did have a significant reversal in fortunes when he was recalled, reeling off 5 straight victories including a series sweep of Pakistan and a shock opening Test victory in India. However, now that the side has won just one of its past five Test matches, including a pretty unconvincing 1-1 series draw in Bangladesh, Wade's numbers are now rightly under the microscope. At 29 years of age, Wade should be in the prime of his career, however, now the prospect of Australia recalling Peter Neville or even looking further afield for the upcoming Ashes series looks pretty real. In general I am a fan of Peter Neville, however if given another opportunity, he needs to bat with more authority, as he does in State Cricket, to complement his tidy glove work.
The more interesting case is that of Glenn Maxwell who, after a majestic breakthrough hundred in India in the 3rd Test, has seen his form peter off badly. Maxwell has made enough starts in his past few Tests to keep the wolves at bay however having finally been granted a prolonged role in the ODI side higher in the order, he has failed to deliver. The Number 5 batting role carries significant responsibility in the ODI side, and the bottom line is Maxwell's numbers are underwhelming . Since Australia won the 2015 World Cup in Australia, Maxwell has made just 668 runs in 31 ODIs at a batting average of 27.83, including just four half-centuries and no hundreds. In 22 ODIs outside Australia, since the 2015 World Cup, Maxwell averages just a paltry 19.11, with a solitary half-century coming in 2015.
Whilst it can be difficult batting in the middle to latter overs of ODI cricket, and you often have to sacrifice your wicket looking for the boundary, those numbers are still a long way off where Maxwell needs to be to cement his place in the side. With players like Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Callum Ferguson, Kurtis Patterson, Peter Handscomb and Mitchell Marsh around the traps, Maxwell now finds himself back under pressure and playing for his position. The Indians look to have got inside his head in this recent ODI series where his mind has looked scattered and shot selection questionable. There are times when you have expected the free-spirited Maxwell to attack and instead he has poked about. However, with Australia having lost captain Steve Smith on Sunday, to see Maxwell stumped off a wide the very next ball was a poor shot considering the situation. When you know your under pressure as a batsman sometimes the more you think about it the worse it gets.
Both Maxwell and Wade now head into the summer, I think, relying on strong Shield form to hold on to their places come the First Test in Brisbane. The pair will no longer be domestic teammates (if that’s what you could call them given Maxwell’s recent remarks about Wade batting above him) with Wade having departed for his home state of Tasmania after 11 years in Victoria. If forced to make a call for Brisbane now, I would stick with Maxwell given his reasonable Test form at Number 6 and I would dispense with Wade. However, there is still plenty of water to go under the bridge before November 23 and a century for either player would probably be enough to get them over the line.
As all cricketers know, there is no hiding from the stats sheet in cricket at the end of the day. When push comes to shove, subjectivity is much harder to find in this sport than others. Your recent runs, wickets and catches are there in black and white and are your only real currency when under pressure. For Wade and Maxwell, it’s time to deliver, or they could find themselves on the outside looking in for good this time round.