Glenn Maxwell, a maverick hitter, has hailed the Australian cricket leadership for their ‘amazing assistance’ after he fell unconscious at an Adelaide pub on January 19.
The 35-year-old was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after an alcohol-related event that he described as ‘less than ideal’. “I think it probably affected my family a little bit more than it affected me,” Maxwell remarked on Sunday (February 11), following his sixth T20I century.
Maxwell had been dropped from the ODI team to face the West Indies and was on vacation when the incident occurred in the midst of a concert by Brett Lee’s band ‘Six and Out’.
“I knew I had that week off,” Maxwell said. “And obviously that incident was less than ideal, and the timing. But I had that week off, I knew I had that week off away from the game.
“And I came back and got back into my running, my gym program and it felt really good and refreshed once I got back. And it’s all been focused on getting myself ready for this [T20] series and what’s to come.”
The incident was the latest in a string of setbacks for the Australian all-rounder. Following the T20 World Cup at home in 2022, he fell at a house party and injured his foot. He suffered a partial concussion after falling off a golf cart during the recent World Cup in India. In a radio interview with SEN, head coach Andrew McDonald urged the all-rounder to make sensible off-field decisions to help him prolong his career.
Maxwell stated that the experience generated little introspection on his side, but he was grateful for the support he got. “I basically moved on quite soon. I was back in training on Monday, so I was feeling okay. “The coach, Bails, and everyone else have been outstanding,” he stated after scoring 120 not out from 55 balls against the West Indies.
Maxwell was meant to be rested for Sunday’s game in Adelaide, but he persuaded management to reconsider, allowing him to tie Rohit Sharma’s record of five T20I hundreds.
He said that he had a premonition about reaching a hundred and went on to do it, becoming the first player batting at No.4 or lower to make four hundreds in the format. “I woke up this morning and I just had a funny feeling,” remarked Maxwell.
“I don’t get it very often, and especially batting middle-order you don’t get it often. But I just got a good look at their [West Indies] attack last game in Hobart, and felt like I got a good read of what they were bowling.
“I was disappointed getting out there in the same sort of scenario – short square boundaries with the ground quite similar, and another good wicket. So, I felt like I’d missed out again, and I said ‘you know what, I can’t let this opportunity slip’.
“I said when I arrived [at Adelaide Oval] ‘I feel like someone’s getting a hundred tonight’, and when I woke up this morning, I felt like I was getting one. But you’ve still got to get the time and opportunity, and the time was probably perfect.”
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