Is Glenn Maxwell really a good all-rounder?

By Adrian Meredith

VICTORIA, Australia (TheSportsNext) September 4, 2012: Glenn Maxwell has played four matches for Australia, all One Day Internationals, one against Afghanistan a bit over a week ago and three others in the recently completed series against Pakistan over the past week.

 

In his first match, against Afghanistan, he scored 2(6) batting at number 4, in an innings that ultimately didn't really matter as Australia won easily. He then bowled 5 overs, with 2 maidens, and still went for 21 runs. A decent economy rate, slightly better than the average in the match, but a pretty poor return.

In his second match, and his first against a top country, Pakistan, he first bowled 4 overs for 27 without taking a wicket, a very expensive effort, then chipped in with a virtually match winning 38 off 38, batting at number 7, a very good score and scoring rate, chasing 199 to win.

In his third match, he scored 28 off 27 batting first to help to set a score of 248, then failed to defend it as he conceded a massive 37 runs off his 4.4 overs.

In his fourth match, he bowled 7 overs, conceding a more respectable 33 runs, slightly better than the average for the innings, before scoring a match winning 56 not out off 38 balls, especially useful as he kept going after Michael Hussey got out, and in spite of Christian falling.

So, to put it simply - in 2 out of 4 matches his bowling stunk so badly that it went a long way towards costing the team the match, and he was unable to bowl close to his required overs. In the other 2 matches, while he didn't get a wicket, at least he didn't concede too much. In 4 bowling innings he bowled a grand total of 20.4 overs, averaging 5 overs and 1 ball per innings - nowhere near good enough as an all rounder. He conceded a massive 118 runs without a wicket, at a very high economy of 5.70 per over - not good enough.

Or, to put it another way - he shouldn't bowl.

The question is - is he good enough to play purely as a batsman?

While he failed in the one off match against Afghanistan, in his three matches against the top flight side (and very good bowling side) Pakistan he scored 38(38), 28(27) and 56*(38), some very good returns, especially considering that the team totals were only 199, 248 and 250. In other words, his scoring rate was significantly higher than the average player in the team. While his scores weren't huge, they were nonetheless enough to make a positive difference.

But as a batsman he would be borderline. Yes, he scores quickly, but no he doesn't score enough runs.

It reminds me of Shane Lee, Brett Lee's older brother, who was such a great batsman but terrible bowler, who struck at very quick strike rates but didn't score very big scores too often.

But Mark Waugh also started out in similar fashion - only to move up the order and start scoring heavily - and his bowling improved too.

The problem with Maxwell is that his first class record, where he averages 36.96 in first class and 50.66 in List A as a bowler, suggests that he is nowhere near a good enough bowler to play as an all rounder.

And surely Steve O'Keefe or Steve Smith would be better - both better bowlers and both big strikers who would be better.

The Maxwell experiment is a surprise but perhaps he can do better than expected in the 2012 ICC World T20. We will soon find out!