Maxwell craves path back to Test side

He’s the king of Australia’s current World Cup batting campaign but Glenn Maxwell reckons he has more to prove to earn a Test cap.

Never a certainty to make Australia’s tournament squad of 15, the Victorian all-rounder’s form has taken off, peaking on Sunday when he blasted 102 from 53 during Australia’s 64-run win against Sri Lanka at the SCG.

But the 26-year old isn’t getting carried away.

“It’s nice that I can ride the wave at the moment, but I know how quickly it can turn around to wondering where my next runs are going to be, so it’s about trying to keep that going as much as I can,” Maxwell said on Wednesday.

Due to rejoin his Indian Premier League team, Kings XI Punjab, for the start of competition in April, Maxwell hinted he would like to be spending more time abroad during 2015.

“I’d love to be touring the Windies and I’d love to be touring England for The Ashes but it just comes down to how well I’m performing and hopefully making runs for the rest of the World Cup,” he said.

His trip to the UAE for Australia in 2014 did not net the results he was after and he thought the World Cup would be a good way to reignite his Test career.

“The way I thought I was going to have to get back into the Test team was by playing really well during this World Cup.

“Obviously putting scores on the board but bowling a lot of overs and taking wickets as well.

“I still think I’ve got a fair bit of work to do to prove I’m ready to have another crack at Test cricket.”

Maxwell credits a bit of good luck for his upturn in form, admitting he hasn’t made any technical changes to his game.

But he also named fellow Australian Steve Smith as his role model, for having remodelled his game from that as a leg spinner to become one of the nation’s best batsmen.

“He’s probably someone I’ve watched over the last 12 months and how he’s turned it around and hopefully I can do something similar.”

Maxwell championed the value of Twenty20 experience going into the World Cup tournament.

“That last 10, 15 overs is now the most important part of the whole game,” he said of the prestigious international tournament.

“You can do whatever you like in the first 30 to 35 (overs) but if you’ve got wickets on hand for the last 10, 15 you can score well over 12 an over and really set your game up.

“It seems that 2-150 or 3-150 off 30 overs is just a really generic score and depending on how good your middle order is, it depends if you get 350 or 260.”

The Australian side landed in Hobart on Wednesday ahead of their last pool match against Scotland on Saturday.

Training will resume on Thursday after the squad was given a few days rest.

Despite the result at Bellerive Oval, Australia is guaranteed a quarter-final berth, and will face their first knockout match at Adelaide Oval on March 20, with their opponent yet to be decided.

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