“I’ve Seen Him Do It”: Australia chief selector George Bailey reacts to Glenn Maxwell as backup wicketkeeper for T20 World Cup
Bailey said that he has seen Maxwell keep wickets and feels that the 37-year-old has natural ability behind the stumps. He believes Maxwell’s experience could help Australia manage unexpected situations during a World Cup, where team balance often becomes a challenge.
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Australian chief selector George Bailey has hinted at the possibility of Glenn Maxwell taking up wicketkeeping duties if Josh Inglis suffers an injury during the T20 World Cup. While Maxwell has never kept wickets at the international level, he has performed the role at the junior level and also kept wickets in a one-off match for Australia during the 2009 Hong Kong Super Sixes.
Bailey said that he has seen Maxwell keep wickets and feels that the 37-year-old has natural ability behind the stumps. He believes Maxwell’s experience could help Australia manage unexpected situations during a World Cup, where team balance often becomes a challenge.
“I’ve seen him do it. He’s a natural; he did it when he was younger. We’ve been in World Cups with one player short in certain positions. It always feels like you’ve got to give up something,” Bailey was quoted as saying to the cricket.au website. He added, “It’s the balance of those sort of day-to-day injuries where a player might just be missing for one game versus a more serious injury, and then how long that is, and can you carry someone?”
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Inglis is the only specialist wicketkeeper named in Australia’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 9.
Bailey on powerplay bowling options
George Bailey also spoke about the option of using left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann and spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly inside the powerplay. He said this is something Australia have not done much in the past, but both players have the skill to bowl early in the innings.
“[That] is something that we haven’t traditionally done a lot of. I think both those guys have got that skillset, so that allows you to create some space elsewhere to be able to line up certain bowlers and continue to keep Zamps (Zampa) in his space,” Bailey said.
Australia’s group details
Mitchell Marsh-led Australia have been placed in Group B of the T20 World Cup along with Ireland, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and Oman. The team will play all their group-stage matches in Sri Lanka.
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Avijit Das
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