AUS vs WI: Glenn Maxwell admits T20I opener role is only temporary; ‘Just warming Heady’s seat’

Explosive Australian batter Glenn Maxwell has stated that his stint at the top of the order for the Kangaroo T20I side could be short lived. Notably, the batter who was batted in the middle order for most of his career has impressed one and all with the new role opening the innings alongside skipper Mitchell Marsh. 

The move to send Marsh to the top of the order was motivated partly Australia’s keenness to counter the spin bowling upfront. While there hasn’t been a lot of use of spinners in the series owing to the small dimensions of the Warner Park stadium.

In first game of the series, Maxwell batted at number 5 spot but he made to make way after Tim David returned from an injury. Travis Head has been rested for the current T20I series while backup opener Matthew Short had sustained an injury prompting the need for Australia to use the services of Maxwell at the top of the order. 

In the three innings so far, the right hander has impressed with scores of 12 off 10, 20 off 7 and 47 off 18. However, Maxwell now says that he could not have the position for much longer as Head returns to the T20I side for the series against South Africa in August. 

Glenn Maxwell on his opening stint:

Speaking about his opening stint Maxwell said (as quoted by ESPNCricinfo), “It’s been great fun being at the top, but I’m sure I’m just warming Heady’s seat until he comes back… I think the way we’re probably going to set up our T20 side heading forward is you’ve got Travis up the top, you’ve got Mitch Marsh who is captaining us brilliantly at the moment.

“Ingo (Josh Inglis) is doing a great job at No.3 and the rest of the order falls into place around that. We’ve got some unbelievable power hitting at the moment, we’ve seen some guys really put their hand up – Tim David, Mitch Owen and Cameron Green – throughout the middle.” the batter added.

“They’re three pretty big blokes with big reach and they hit the ball an absolute mile so it’s great to have those guys with that extra bit of power in the middle-order….It’s not something we’ve had an abundance of over the years and to have that at our disposal at the moment is pretty exciting.” Maxwell further stated.