Maxwell vows to return after being axed from Australian ODI squad

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was on Sunday dropped from the One-Day International (ODI) cricket squad against Sri Lanka, said he is disappointed but determined to get back his place "which I deserve".

Australia's selection chairman Rod Marsh issued a message to axed Maxwell saying that, "If you can show us you're capable of consistently making runs and taking wickets there is a place for you in our best white ball XI".

But Maxwell vowed to return to the fold. "Obviously I'm disappointed to miss out on the squad but I've had some good chats to (selectors) Rod (Marsh) and Trevor (Hohns). I got some really honest feedback which was good to hear but there are also things I need to work on," Maxwell told cricket.com.au.

"It is hard; I'm going to be watching on TV and seeing Australia play in coloured clothing and I'm not going to be there, but it's one of those things where it'll probably only drive me to train harder and make sure I'm there for the next tour," the 27-year-old added.

"There's plenty of positives. Lots of players miss out on squads and get dropped at different times, and you see their character shine through -- I'm hoping I can show mine and get back in that squad and show that I deserve to be there."

Maxwell will instead spend the next few weeks searching for form with the Australia A team in its current series of four-day matches against A teams from South Africa and India as well as a quadrangular limited-overs tournament that will also feature the national performance squad.

Since scoring 96 from 83 balls to steer Australia to victory over India in an ODI at the MCG last January, Maxwell has compiled just 59 runs from 54 balls faced in seven innings (including one unbeaten) at an average of 9.83.

He was dropped from the playing XI during the recent ODI tri-series featuring the West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean, but returned to the team to steer Australia home with an unbeaten 46 in the penultimate game to earn them a place in the final.

However, Marsh said here on Sunday that while Maxwell's brilliant fielding and useful off-spin bowling made him an attractive package in limited-overs cricket, his primary job specification was to score runs.

"Glenn has too many games where he doesn't contribute with the bat. He is averaging less than 10 runs in Australia's last 10 one-day internationals so the numbers speak for themselves," Marsh said.

"As far as I am concerned, he has had a lot of chances. It got to that stage - we couldn't go on any longer. He is a hell of a good fieldsman, as we know, he is a handy bowler, and, at his best, he is one of our first picked in a one-day team," he added.

"But if he is not making runs, then we have got to find a solution to it."

--IANS

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