Big-hitting Victorian batsman Glenn Maxwell says that while he is happy with a return to the Australian Twenty20 International side, his hopes were always centred on a return to again representing Australia in red ball cricket.
Maxwell was today named in the Australian side to take on England and New Zealand in a T20I tri-series next month, but missed out on a place in the Test side to tour South Africa in a four match series in March.
The batting all-rounder says that despite a run of promising form in the Sheffield Shield late last year, including a mammoth innings of 278 against New South Wales in November, he needs to continue scoring runs over a longer period of time to be any chance of playing the eighth Test of his career.
“It’s probably not the recall I was looking for. I was hoping obviously to be in that Test side and to continue my Test ambitions but it’s a good recall nonetheless,” Maxwell told SEN’s Time On.
“I think (my good form) has got to be over a longer period of time. We’ve only got to look at the guys that they have been picking and they have been picking it on form over a long period of time.
“I don’t think half a summer is going to do the job. I think I’ve got to make sure I finish off this summer the way I started and I think that has got to come through good Shield performances and hopefully a bit more consistency with both bat and ball.”
The Australian selectors decided to only bring name one additional batsman in the extended squad of 15 to travel to South Africa, Peter Handscomb.
Fellow Victorian Jon Holland is the only back-up spinner in the side, with Jhye Richardson and Jackson Bird the reserve quicks.
Maxwell praised the selectors for their choices despite the disappointment of missing out on a place in the squad.
“Hats off to them. They have picked a pretty aggressive squad with only one spare batter and they have got plenty of replacement bowlers, so that’s the way they’re going,” he said.
The First Test against the Proteas gets underway in Durban on March 1.
Listen to Glenn Maxwell chatting with Sam McClure on SEN's Time On in the player below: