Glenn Maxwell on the switch hit: It's up to the bowlers to evolve
Glenn Maxwell believes it is up to bowlers to evolve in an attempt to combat the ever-more outlandish strokeplay that is on display in limited-overs cricket after he produced a 100-metre switch hit in Canberra.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell reignited the debate over whether the shot is 'fair' - where a right-handed batsman effectively becomes a left hander and vice-versa when, for example, a bowler must tell the umpire if they are coming from over or round the wicket - after the opening two matches of the series against India, before Maxwell produced his latest display of outrageous skill at Manuka Oval.
"[Switch-hitting] is very skillful, some of it's amazingly skillful - but it's not fair," Chappell told Wide World of Sports. "How can one side of the game, ie. the bowlers, they have to tell the umpire how they're going to bowl. And yet the batsman, he lines up as a right-hander - I'm the fielding captain, I place the field for the right-hander - and before the ball's been delivered, the batsman becomes a left-hander.
"One of the main reasons why he's becoming a left-hander is so he can take advantage of those field placings. I'd love the administrators who made those laws, I'd love them to explain to me how that's fair."
Maxwell launched Kuldeep Yadav over point and such was the swiftness of his hand switch that it takes a couple of replays to even notice he did it.
"It's within the Laws, batting has evolved in such a way that it's just got better and better over the years which is why we see these massive scores getting chased down," he said. "Suppose it's up to the bowlers to try and combat that. The skills of bowlers are being tested every day with bowlers having to come up with different change-ups, ways to stop batters and the way they shut down one side of the ground.
"The way batting is evolving, I think bowling has to try and evolve at the same stage. We see guys coming up with knuckle balls and wide-yorker fields, the tactics of one-day cricket have definitely evolved over the last little bit as well. I just see it as a different part of the evolution of the game."
However, Maxwell wasn't taking all the credit for how far the stroke went. "It probably helped that it was with a pretty decent wind, I wasn't too worried about the boundary rider and just thought if I got it up in the air it was going to travel," he said.
His 59 off 38 balls kept Australia in the chase of 303 after they had slipped to 5 for 158 but when he was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah the task was too great for the lower order. Maxwell, who said he should have finished the game, took the blame for the run out of Alex Carey as the pair were building a solid partnership.
"I thought the changing point was probably the run out with Carey which was probably 100% my fault and unfortunately when you leave yourself six down it makes it a little bit tougher because you know one mistake and it can all turn around pretty quickly. That was a key moment of the game which I probably stuffed up, but saying that I feel I should probably have iced that game from there. But they are allowed to bowl well and Bumrah is a class finisher."