Entertainer and enigma, Maxwell bows out as cricket's great what-if

Part entertainer, part enigma, Glenn Maxwell will go down in cricket folklore as the game’s great what-if a maverick shot-maker whose limited-overs wizardry never extended to red-ball cricket.

Where many of his peers stuck to the batting manual, Maxwell rewrote it with his 360-degree stroke-play, which made field settings a nightmare for rival captains.

It could not be risk-free, but Maxwell cared little as he pulled off reverse hits and cheeky scoops with a gum-chewing nonchalance.

Fans expected spectacle whenever Maxwell walked out with the bat and, more often than not, he delivered it with his unorthodox shots.

The definitive example came at the 2023 ODI World Cup. Chasing 292 against Afghanistan and with Australia reeling at 91-7, Maxwell conjured up an unforgettable 201 not out off 128 balls to complete a chase that had looked impossible.

That sense of occasion was present from his Australia debut, an ODI against Afghanistan in 2012, and it studded his career.

A two-time ODI World Cup winner, Maxwell also hit the winning runs in Australia’s maiden T20 World Cup triumph in 2021 under captain Aaron Finch.

Fittingly, Finch fronted the tributes to Maxwell after a 286-match international career spanning 14 years.

“Without doubt one of the most destructive players the game has ever seen and easily one of the most innovative of our generation,” Finch wrote on Instagram.

“Some of the things you’ve done on a cricket field have been absolutely ridiculous. You’ve played innings that most of us could only dream of and produced some of the greatest moments this game has ever seen. You’ve changed the way the game is played and inspired so many along the way.”

T20 royalty

Maxwell’s value was always three-dimensional: explosive batting, savvy off-spin, and electric fielding that saved runs and snared jaw-dropping catches. It made him T20 royalty, especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Maxwell, 38, was an IPL millionaire at 25 and earned the nickname the “Big Show” after his first ODI series a moniker he resented.

“At the start, I thought if I fight it, I’m going to have to live with it even more, so I tried to sort of ride with it,” Maxwell said in 2014. “I’m just trying to shake it off because it’s starting to go too far.

“It’s not about what I’m about. I’m all about trying to entertain and…I just love being out there trying to hit balls for four and six.” That ability made him a crowd magnet evident in his 12.4 million followers across social media platforms.

The long run was not without quiet chapters, and test cricket never became his stage.

Maxwell played only seven tests between 2013 and 2017, scoring 339 runs at a modest average of 26.

He took a mental health break from the sport in 2019 and recounts the episode in his autobiography in a candid assessment of the struggles that lay beneath his confident exterior.