ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

November 4, 2022

Glenn Maxwell

Adelaide Oval

Australia

Post Match Media Conference

Australia 168/8, Afghanistan 164/7

Q. Question on the changes Australia made. Was there a fitness issue around Mitchell Starc, or was that just a tactical decision?

GLENN MAXWELL: I have absolutely no idea. Wrong person to ask. I only found out just before the game.

Q. Other than that, were you targeting just to win today, or was there an eye on the net run rate and how big Australia needed to go ahead of tomorrow?

GLENN MAXWELL: We were certainly targeting a bigger win. But, yeah, I think conditions played a pretty big part in that. I think obviously batting in the day at Adelaide is a lot different than at night. Skidded on really nicely throughout the rest of the night. It was pretty difficult, I suppose.

I thought we started off really well. Just lost probably one or two too many wickets through the middle and probably just affected our back end a little bit. But they still bowled pretty well. Their last four overs, they executed really well to their fields. And, yeah, I thought they bowled beautifully.

Q. Was it just a weird game to play in the sense you had to win; you had to keep the net run rate in mind? When you were just batting out there, how much of that was playing on your mind while you were going about it?

GLENN MAXWELL: I think when I was batting I was just trying to be as positive as possible. I was looking for boundary options. But in the same position because I was batting at 6, there wasn't as much behind me to go blither and try to strike it 250 consistently.

And as I said, the conditions weren't 100 percent favorable for batting at the start of the day. It was a little bit slower, a little bit of inconsistent bounce. You still had to sort of -- it was really weird trying to sort of safe slog or safe power hit and they were still allowed to execute. It's not like we were playing against a bowling machine. We were planning an attack that is a highly skilled attack and they have shown that in previous outings as well.

Q. When you knew that you had to keep them under 107, what were those discussions like? Were you just focused on somehow getting those 10 wickets? Very strange scenario to be in.

GLENN MAXWELL: We didn't really talk about it. I think we just tried to sort of stick to our game plan as much as we possibly could. We thought if we bowled well enough and created chances by doing pressure bowling well, good balls, hopefully our experience prevails, and actually our skill execution could be good enough.

But probably after that first or second over didn't move too much, skidded on nicely, and they played some serious shots as well. As I said, opposition is allowed to have a say in what you do and they certainly did that. They came out with great intent. Put us on our back foot.

Then we were able to really respond, which sometimes throughout a tournament we probably haven't responded as well. But I thought we did really well to sort of hold them back again and keep fighting hard and proud of the effort we put in, especially like, I suppose as I said, the difference in conditions from first and second innings was as big as I've seen for a while.

Q. It's not over yet. But fate's gone about your hands down depending on what happens tomorrow. Only lost one game in this tournament. How do you look back at it? Is it a series of frustrations, or how do you sum it up? Just doesn't feel like you've put a complete game together in any of the matches. How do you assess it all so far?

GLENN MAXWELL: You're right. We probably haven't put a complete game together. There was a couple games last year during the World Cup where we probably did, I think. Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka, we played a complete game, almost back to back.

There were clinical performances, we did the game quickly. And we were pretty sharp in all areas of the game. And probably missed a few opportunities so far this year. I thought our batters had good starts, big -- I don't think we got any batters in the top five or six or 10 run scorers. Probably haven't got the high wicket takers either. Feel like we've been just sort of chipping away bits and pieces here and there.

But I think for us probably the frustration would have been nice to play that game against England and sort of hopefully showcase where we think we are as a team, and I suppose if you lose that you can sort of wear it that you've missed out on finals. But to have sell-out at the MCG, would have been amazing to be a part of. And the two teams at the peak of their powers would have been an awesome join. But also would have been good for both teams to sort of show where they're at. If you win that, you put yourself in good stead going forward.

But you can't dwell on that. But we probably just missed a few opportunities. But starting the first game of the tournament, not that well. Probably hurt us as well. Goes probably without saying.

Q. Follow up on New Zealand game, you played a lot of T20 cricket. A lot of games could be close like that one tonight. But that felt like it was decided very quickly. Did you reflect at all on I suppose the little period of time before the start of that game, like it sort of felt a little bit like an AFL grand final, where it's over after the first quarter, that kind of thing?

GLENN MAXWELL: Not really, I think we were so excited to get the tournament underway. Probably the longest lead in we've ever had. I think what did we have, 15 games in all sorts of places in some pretty average conditions all over the place and once that 15th game was finished in India at the Gabba, the feeling of the group was almost a sigh of relief. We can now start. Got through all the pain we can now actually start our tournament.

We were excited, we were fresh and pumped up and ready to go. And they just had a player that was better on the day. As I said, that can happen. And the opposition has a say in things. And pretty much everything that we did they counteracted those first four overs. And that can be all it takes in a T20 game. We saw how Stoinis did it against Sri Lanka, took the game in three overs, there's nothing you can do when there's an opposition like that.

Q. The contrast between having a winning campaign in the UAE and playing at home now in that situation where you don't know what's going to happen. Obviously it would have been a highlight for you guys to go all the way in this tournament. Will that feel disappointing in 24 hours' time if you're not going further?

GLENN MAXWELL: You'll certainly be disappointed. But as I've said, we missed opportunities. We probably haven't nailed quite enough moments. We haven't played the perfect game, as I said before. And I think that's probably just the disappointment. We haven't been able to show how we feel like we're playing as a group.

And tonight was a good opportunity to have that perfect game and I think we should have sent Finchy up for the toss instead of Wadey. Who knows what would have happened. But that's as simple as it gets. We probably just missed big moments probably too many times and missed a few opportunities during games.

Q. One of those interesting things where Australian fans seemed to be cheering for Rashid Khan, as someone no slouch in the finishing department. Were you nervous when he started teeing off and playing that kind of innings to take it really close?

GLENN MAXWELL: No. I had faith in the guys getting it done. You just want it to be done without any sort of doubt. When it gets down to 11 after two balls, you're thinking he can get a nick for four and crunch the last ball and we'll go into overtime and super overs. So I still felt like Stoinis was going to get the job done but a little closer than we thought it would be at the end there.

Q. Aaron Finch, he was prowling the boundary a little there, running drinks on and off, was that difficult for him being off the ground in that kind of situation?

GLENN MAXWELL: I can't speak to Aaron, but he was brilliant around the group all day today. I know he would have been -- he would have loved to be out there with us, but unfortunately -- he was awesome around the group, that's all I can say. He was brilliant, he was encouraging. He was at all the drinks breaks, supported us as hard as he could.

Q. Probably on the same theme about Finch, what's it say about him that he didn't want to put himself before the team? I guess can you quantify it, what was missing without having his leadership out there? He was open yesterday and he said he wouldn't put himself before the team.

GLENN MAXWELL: That's typical Aaron, he'll never put his personal interests in front of everyone else's. He'll never look for the limelight of like this show's about me or anything like that. And like for him to sort of say that he was still feeling a little bit -- must have been a big decision for him, especially in a must-win game, where he's come off a bit of form. He's hitting the ball really well. That must have been a hard decision for him.

But credit to him, he didn't want us hindered in the field in any way. And I thought the way he did the job tonight. It's not easy when you've got so many permutations floating all over the place and you're against a team that can literally do anything; they can shock you. They can play some of the most amazing shots and hit one straight up in the air and don't know where it came from.

But I thought he did a really good job. Managed the balls really well. Would have been nice to have Finchy at the top of the order and especially after getting 60 last game, I think that would have been quite nice.

Q. The way T20 World Cup is structured, it takes one bad day for a team to get knocked out, which doesn't make the team a bad team. And it can be argued your sport was better than the last year-round. If you do not make it, how do you reconcile with that despite winning such a good sport not progressing.

GLENN MAXWELL: You can't dwell on it. I think you move on it quickly. One-day series against England 24 hours later, and we've got the Big Bash, and we've got four-day cricket. Cricket never stops. You don't get time to dwell.

Maybe when you retire you think back to it, it would have been nice to have won that. But doesn't mean anything. Doesn't mean anything. There's no point in dwelling about it. It's like wish we had have won; we didn't.

Q. Home advantage, as host Australia has had home advantage. Last year they won the T20 World Cup. Is home advantage a disadvantage for the host? What do you think?

GLENN MAXWELL: No.

Q. With Finchy and Tim David out today, how much discussion was there around the batting order and I guess moving you down to No. 6, and was there any chance of you going up the order?

GLENN MAXWELL: That's a really good question. Actually I came out -- we lost the first wicket, I came out thinking I was at 5. And David gave me the tap of the shoulder, goes, I think you're at 6. I was like, okay, so I left my gear there and I went back inside. It wasn't a whole lot of conversation about it.

I knew it was going to be a fluid batting order. We were going to put people out for the best time of the game. And unfortunately for us we probably just were at every stage we were probably just one wicket too many down to go as hard as we would have liked. But in saying that, we still had complete and utter faith with our batting line to get that job done.

Q. How was this World Cup was for you considering not scoring runs before and playing a knock today, how would you rate your group stage performance?

GLENN MAXWELL: It wasn't too bad. I think I was reasonably consistent throughout the tournament. I think one of the things we judge our middle order on is our impact on the game, when we enter the game until we get out, and making sure that we're trying to leave the game state in a better position and felt like I did that really consistently. I was able to strike the ball pretty cleanly.

It would have been nice to make a few more at different stages. But when you play in high risk and trying to get the run rate going, you're going to make mistakes. It's not going to be flawless. And I felt like I was in pretty good knick the whole way through.