Maxwell made his professional debut in 2010. Known for his dramatic shot making and improvisation in short forms of the game,[6] in 2011, he set a new record for the fastest ever half-century in Australian domestic one day cricket, scoring 50 runs from 19 balls.[7] Maxwell has played domestic Twenty20 cricket in both India and England and has scored centuries in all three international cricket formats, one of only 25 cricketers who have achieved this feat.[8] In November 2017 he scored his maiden double-century, scoring 278 in the Sheffield Shield[9][10] and in October 2023 set a new record for the fastest century scored at a Cricket World Cup, reaching his century in 40 balls against the Netherlands.
In November 2023, he also set a new record for the fastest double century scored in a World Cup, becoming just the third person to do so.[11] He also became the first male batsman to score a double century for Australia in ODIs and scored the winning runs against India in the 2023 Cricket World Cup final.[12] In the same month just after the World Cup, he equaled Rohit Sharma's world record for having scored the most number of centuries in T20I cricket when he slammed his fourth career T20I century against India.[13] He also became the first batsman in men's T20Is to complete three centuries while chasing. He also became the first and only batsman to complete a century in his 100th T20I match.[14]
Early life
Maxwell was born in Kew, Melbourne, and played junior cricket for South Belgrave Cricket Club. He initially played as a fast bowler, before moving to bowl off spin.[15]
Maxwell joined the Victorian squad in 2009–10 following an injury to Andrew McDonald in November.[16][17] He made his senior debut for the one-day side in February 2010 and was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sports in the 2010 Emerging Players Tournament. He scored 69 against India in the final.[18]
Maxwell attracted national attention in February 2011 after scoring a match winning 51 from 19 balls in a Ryobi Cup game against Tasmania, the fastest half-century in Australian domestic one-day history,[19] and made his first-class debut for Victoria against New South Wales later in the month, taking two wickets and scoring 38 runs on debut. The following month he scored his debut first-class century, making 103 runs against South Australia.[20] In the 2011 Emerging Players Tournament, Maxwell scored 59 from 23 balls against India[21] and 110 from 52 balls against South Africa.[22]
Maxwell attempted to transfer to New South Wales ahead of the 2016–17 summer but was refused permission and was dropped from the Victorian side for the first match of the Sheffield Shield season.[24] Maxwell was picked in the next Shield game and scored 81.
T20 franchise cricket
Maxwell has played in Twenty20 cricket franchises leagues in Australia, India and England. In the domestic Big Bash League he played for Melbourne Renegades in 2012–13 and has since played for Melbourne Stars. During the 2021–22 season he scored 154 not out against Hobart Hurricanes, breaking the record for the highest individual score in the league and leading his team to the highest team total in league history.[25]
In India he played for Delhi Daredevils in 2012 before being bought in the 2013 IPL auction by Mumbai Indians, becoming the most expensive purchase at the auction, commanding a price of US$1 million.[26] In 2014 he was bought by Kings XI Punjab, making scores of 95, 89, 95 and 90 runs during the season. In 16 games he had the season's third highest aggregate of runs scored with 552 runs at an average of 34.50 runs per innings[27] and was retained by the side for the following two seasons.[28] He returned to play for Delhi ahead of the 2018 season[29] He again had a poor season, scoring 142 runs at an average of 14 and not passing 50 once.[30] before being the subject of a bidding war between Delhi and Punjab ahead of the 2020 season, eventually being bought by Punjab. In 2021, he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore after another bidding war, this time with the Chennai Super Kings,[31] and finished the season as the team's highest scorer, with 513 runs.[32] He was retained by the side for the 2022 season.[33]
Maxwell was selected for Australia's series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2012, with head selector John Inverarity saying that he was "a versatile and lively off-spinning allrounder and brilliant fieldsman" who "will provide another spin bowler option on the slow, low, turning wickets" expected in the country.[35] He made his debut against Afghanistan in the one-off One Day International (ODI) which took place ahead of the matches against Pakistan,[36] before going on to play in five of Australia's six fixtures against the Pakistanis. Scores of 38, 28 and 56 not out in the three ODIs on the tour,[37][38][39][40] saw him selected for two of the three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches, scoring four on T20I debut and 27 from 20 balls in the final match of the tour; he also took his first international wicket.[41][42]
The same squad of players was selected for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka which followed Australia's matches in the UAE.[43][44] He played in all five of Australia's group stage matches, taking a single wicket and scoring only eight runs in the two innings in which he batted, but was dropped from the side for the semi-final against West Indies.[45][46][47][48][49] Following the competition, Maxwell played for Australia A and for the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI against Sri Lanka,[50] Maxwell scored 64 and took 2/70.[51][52] before being called into the Australian squad for the third Test against the touring Sri Lankans at the end of the year, replacing Shane Watson.[53][54] He did not play in the Test, but was brought back into the side for three of the five ODIs and both of the T20Is played in January. He was involved in a controversy in the final T20I of the series, after becoming involved in a verbal altercation with opposition players after failing to hit the last ball for four.[55]
Test match debut
After scoring 51 not out from 35 balls opening the batting against West Indies in the first ODI of in February,[56] Maxwell took four wickets in the second match of the series.[57] He was subsequently selected for Australia's Test tour of India later in the month as an all-rounder.[58][59][60] He made his Test debut against India in the second Test at Hyderabad as the team's second spinner, supporting Xavier Doherty with established lead spin bowler Nathan Lyon dropped. He scored 13 and 8 runs in the first and second innings respectively, but took 4/127 with the ball.[61] He was dropped from the team for the third Test as Australia opted for more specialist bowlers,[62] but brought back for the fourth and final Test in Delhi, replacing injured batsman Michael Clarke. He scored 10 and 8 runs.[63]
Later in 2013, Maxwell played in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England,[64][65] but was not selected for the 2013 Ashes which followed the competition. He went to South Africa with Australia A, making a first-class century against South Africa A and a limited overs century against India A in a tri-series.[66][17][67]
By now an established member of Australia's one-day teams, Maxwell returned to India in October as part of an Australian limited overs tour of India and played against England later in the year. He was named in Australia's 15-man squad for 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, scoring 74 runs from 33 balls against Pakistan in Australia's first match of the competition.[68] He finished the tournament as Australia's second highest run scorer, making 147 runs.
Maxwell made a return to the Test team in October 2014 against Pakistan in the UAE, playing in the second match of the two-match series. He scored 37 in the first innings and four in the second and was wicket-less; he performed better during the one-day matches.
2015 World Cup
Maxwell was selected in Australia's 15-man squad for the ODI World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in early 2015.[69] He scored 95 runs and took four wickets against England in final of the warm-up triangular series in early February and began the tournament well, making scores of 66 from 40 balls in the first match against England,[70] and 88 from 39 balls against Afghanistan.[71] Later in the tournament, he scored his maiden international century, scoring 102 against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He brought up his century in 51 balls, at the time recording the fastest century by an Australian man in an ODI and the second-fastest in World Cup history.[72][73]
In the quarter-final against Pakistan, Maxwell took two wickets and scored 44 runs,[74] before scoring 23 against India in the semi-final.[75] He did not bat in the final against New Zealand but took a wicket as Australia won their fifth World Cup title.[76][77] Maxwell ended the tournament as Australia's third highest run scorer, scoring 324 runs at a batting average of 64.80 runs per innings.
Maxwell continued to be a fixture in Australia's one-day sides following the World Cup. He was names as Cricket Australia's men's T20I Player of 2015 at the Allan Border Medal ceremony[78] and played regularly throughout 2015 and the first half of 2016. He was not included in either the Test and ODI teams for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in 2016, but was in the side for the T20I series. In early September he scored an unbeaten 145 from 65 deliveries opening the batting at Kandy, at the time the second-highest individual score in men's Twenty20 Internationals.[79][80][81] Maxwell returned to the ODI side at the beginning of 2017 for the series against Pakistan, making scores of 60 in first ODI[17] and 78 in the fourth match.[82] He was named as Cricket Australia's men's ODI Player of 2016.[78]
Test return in 2017
In February 2017, Maxwell was selected for Australia's squad for the Test tour of India. He played in the opening tour game against India A but did not make the side for the first two Tests, with Mitchell Marsh preferred as the side's all-rounder. An injury to Marsh saw Maxwell return to the side in the third Test of the series, scoring his maiden Test century. His score of 104 runs[83] meant that be became the second Australian man to score a century in all three international formats.[84][85] He scored 8 and 45 in the fourth Test. In 2018 he was indirectly accused by an Al Jazeera documentary of being a suspect in a set of spot-fixing allegations surrounding the third Test.[86] He denied all of the allegations levelled against him.[87][88]
After playing in Australia's side in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales in June, Maxwell was selected again in the Test squad for Australia's tour of Bangladesh in August and September.[89] He played in both Tests during the series, preferred as a spin bowling option in south-Asian conditions.[90][91] After struggling on Australia's ODI tour of India later in September, he was dropped from the side during the tour and lost his place in the Test team for the 2017–18 Ashes series. He was called into the squad as cover after before the first Test following injuries to Shaun Marsh and David Warner the day before the game[92][93] but did not play. Despite scoring 278 for Victoria against New South Wales[94] and 98 against Western Australia,[95] Maxwell did not play in the series, and Mitchell Marsh scored two centuries, cementing his role as the team's all-rounder. He was not selected for the one-day side against England, with Chris Lynn replacing him. When Lynn was injured the selectors called Cameron White into the side rather than Maxwell, with Australian coach Darren Lehmann confirming that Maxwell had not be selected due to his lack of runs rather than concerns around his attitude to international cricket.[96]
Australia's captain Steve Smith suggested at a press conference that Maxwell could "train smarter", commenting that although he was an explosive one-day player than he should aim for more consistency in his game,[97] a view echoed by head selector Trevor Hohns.[98][99] He was called into the squad for the final two matches following an injury to Aaron Finch, playing in the final match of the series scoring 34 runs.[100]
Limited overs return in 2018
Maxwell batting against New Zealand in February 2018 during the Tri-Series.
Maxwell returned to Australia's squad for the 2017–18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series involving New Zealand and England in early 2018.[101] In the first T20I of the series, he scored 40 from 24 balls against New Zealand,[102] before making a century against England in the second match, making 103 runs from 58 balls.[103][104] He also took three wickets in the match.
In March, Maxwell was briefly recalled to the Australian Test squad following the suspensions of Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft for ball tampering during the Australian 2018 Tour of South Africa, but did not play in the final Test of the series. The following month he was awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season[105][106] and played during the ODI tour of England, scoring 112 runs at an average of 37.33,[107] and in the side's tours throughout 2018 and into 2019.
Despite being omitted from the Test squad to play Pakistan in October 2018,[108] Maxwell had re-established himself in the one-day side. He scored his third T20I century during the tour of India in early 2019, making 113 not out and becoming the first Australian man to score three T20I centuries. He was again named as Cricket Australia's men's T20I player of the year for 2019.
He returned later in the domestic season and toured England in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.[114][115][116][117] In the ODI series, Maxwell impressed with the bat, scoring 186 runs at an average of 62, including a score of 108 in the final ODI. He was named player of the series. His form continued into the Australian summer when India toured Australia, but he was not selected for the Test side. He did, however, play in Australia's squad in the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup,[118]
He was named in the Australian fifteen man squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. During the competition, Maxwell scored the fastest century in Cricket World Cup history, bringing up his century in 40 balls against Netherlands in October. He scored 106 runs from 44 balls.[119] He played a match-winning knock against Afghanistan scoring 201 runs off 128 balls.[120]
Match-winning innings of 201 vs Afghanistan
Maxwell set a plethora of records during his knock of 201* against Afghanistan in a group stage match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup on 7 November.[121] He was hailed by fans and critics who insisted that he played out of his skin to help Australia register an unlikely victory after being put on the back foot by Afghanistan early on in the Australian batting innings.[122] His ODI innings was also hailed by many as the "greatest ever innings in the history of ODI cricket”.[123][124][125][126]
Maxwell suffered cramps and injury concerns over the course of his knock.[127][128] He was unable to run during the latter half of his innings and hence developed a strategy with captain Pat Cummins, with whom he was out in the middle, to hit one or two boundaries at the beginning of each over before walking a comfortable one and allowing Cummins to soak up the remaining deliveries the over.[129][130][131] His double century propelled Australia to a semi-final spot with one game still remaining for Australia in the World Cup.[132][133] Throughout his knock, Maxwell was given several lifelines, first when he faced a hat-trick ball from Azmatullah Omarzai as his first delivery. The delivery seamed in towards off-stump, but a small edge ensured that he was not out LBW or bowled, nor did it carry through to the keeper.[134] He was later also dropped on 33 by Mujeeb Ur Rahman at short fine leg.[135][136][137]
His monumental knock of 201* which consisted of 21 fours and 10 sixes is also the highest individual score by an Australian in an ODI match surpassing the previous best by Shane Watson who made 185* against Bangladesh in 2011.[138] He also became the second fastest ever to score a double century in ODI cricket behind Ishan Kishan, as he completed the double hundred with a winning six to seal the deal for Australia facing 128 deliveries.[139][140] He also scored the fastest ever World Cup double century. He became the first batsman to score a double century in an ODI run chase and broke Shane Watson's record for the highest individual score in a successful run chase in ODI cricket.[141] He also surpassed Fakhar Zaman's record for the highest ever individual score by a batsman in the second innings of an ODI match.[142] He also became only the third double centurion in the history of World Cups after Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill.[143] Maxwell was also the first batsman to score a World Cup double century while batting second and also registered the highest individual score by an Australian in a World Cup match.[144][145] He also became the first ever batsman to score a double century in ODI history while batting at number 6 or lower down the order which also eventually broke Kapil Dev's record of 175* for the highest individual score in ODI history while batting at no. 6 position or lower.[146][147] His innings of 201* came in a run chase which was lesser than target of 300 and it was the first such instance where a batsman made a score of 200 or more in an ODI innings where the target was set less than 300 to chase. He also became the first ever middle order batsman as well as non-opener to score a double century in Cricket World Cup history.[148][149]
Alongside the team captain, Pat Cummins, he shattered the previous record held by Zimbabwean pair, Dave Houghton and Iain Butchart, for one of the highest ever eighth wicket partnership in the history of Cricket World Cups in the match against Afghanistan. Maxwell and Cummins shared an unbeaten stand of 202, out of which Maxwell was the chief contributor with 179 runs; Cummins contributed 12 runs. Maxwell and Cummins batted together at a time when the team was reeling at a precarious position when they lost 7 wickets for just 91 runs, with 201 still needed to chase the target of 292 runs.[150][151] Maxwell's achievements and records in the match drew praise from cricket legends, including Sachin Tendulkar, who described Maxwell's innings as "the best ODI knock I've seen in my life."[152]
Cummins, who scored 12 whilst Maxwell scored 179 in their partnership, joked "A lot of credit should go to Maxi, he played his role beautifully."[153] Maxwell eventually ended the World Cup tournament on a high note, by scoring 400 runs in the whole tournament at an average of 66 striking at 150 while also picking up 6 wickets at a decent economy rate of 4.81 and played a pivotal role in Australia's sixth World Cup title.
Post 2023 World Cup
After helping Australia win their record-breaking sixth World Cup, he continued his T20I success into 2024 by scoring his fourth and fifth centuries in his 100th and 102nd T20I appearance.[154][155] In the third match of the Australia vs India series in November 2023, he scored an unbeaten 104 runs off 48 deliveries to lead Australia to a victory total of 223.[156] He hit eight fours and eight sixes, including 18 runs off the last over to secure the win.[157][158]
He became the second player in men's T20I cricket, after Rohit Sharma, to score four centuries and set the record for the most T20I centuries by an Australian.[159] He achieved this in his 92nd batting innings, making him the fastest player to reach four T20I centuries.[160] He also tied the record for the fastest century by an Australian batsman in a T20I, reaching it in 47 balls.[161] Additionally, he holds the record for the most centuries scored while chasing in T20I history, with three out of four centuries in pressure situations.[162] On 11 February 2024, against West Indies in his 94th innings, he scored his 5th T20I century with a 120 not out off 55 balls, again equalling Rohit Sharma for the record of most T20I centuries in a career. [163]
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