MARMITE MAN MAXI IS WINNING OVER CRITICS

The first time that Glenn Maxwell struck a century in each format of the game at the top level, it prompted responses far more emotional than we are conditioned to from finely-tuned athletes.

- ADAM COLLINS

In Sydney during the 2015 One-Day World Cup, after reaching three figures alongside Shane Watson, he openly cried on the field. Eighteen months later at Kandy against Sri Lanka, his voice quivered in the Press conference after smashing an unbeaten 145 in 65 balls. At Ranchi in 2017, completing the set with a Test ton, it was the same again – overwhelmed.

On each occasion, the release after completing the mission suggested that he had been playing the game with the weight of the world on his shoulders; seldom a pre-condition of success.

But it was different when the 31-year-old led Australia to their audacious victory in the final ODI on Wednesday, his record-breaking 212-run stand with Alex Carey for the sixth wicket enough to deny England a series win on home soil for the first time in five years. When talking to us after play, Maxwell was relaxed. There were no tears or anything like it.

For those who watch the Victorian closely, as this column certainly has over the years, it was instructive from a man who has been through more in his eight-year international journey than almost any of his peers. Identified as a prodigious talent and picked for higher honours early on, his ostentatious style with the bat quickly turned him into a marmite option, a modern villain for some.

The same applied to selectors, who have toyed with the idea of making him a mainstay across the formats without committing to the project long term.