Former Australia opener David Warner has spoken out against all-rounder Glenn Maxwell's desire to return to Test cricket for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka early next year. David Warner has said Glenn Maxwell lacks red-ball experience in the Sheffield Shield despite showing a strong desire to play Test cricket.
Maxwell recently expressed his desire to return to the Australian Test team for the tour of Sri Lanka. However, he has not played a top-flight match since last year. Maxwell planned to play for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, but a hamstring injury during Pakistan's recent white-ball series prevented him.
Glenn Maxwell doesn't deserve this chance – David Warner
Speaking to CODE Sports, David Warner expressed his doubts about Glenn Maxwell's potential return to the Australian Test team for the Sri Lanka tour. Warner questioned Maxwell's commitment to playing red-ball cricket. He stated that players must play cricket for four days in order to compete for the Tests.
“If you don't get picked for your Shield team, why do you deserve it? You have to really want it, want to play four-day cricket. Unless he raises his hand, he's playing for the whole club. Cricket stuff and all that,” said David Warner. To want to play Test cricket is, in my opinion, not deserving of that opportunity.”
“I don’t think you can keep raising your hand and saying, ‘I want to play this game.’” “You know, it's like me saying I just want to play for Australia, like you want to put in the hard work and do it,” David Warner added.
Australia is currently competing in a five-match Test series against India at home. After the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) tournament, they will end the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with two Tests in Sri Lanka, starting January 29.
My tactics will be the same – Glenn Maxwell
Earlier, Glenn Maxwell said that he was preparing for Test cricket, describing it as one of the most enjoyable times of his career. The 36-year-old stressed that he was focusing on strong defending and exploring scoring options in his style of play.
“The week leading up to the Sri Lanka Tests in 2025 will probably be the most fun ever to practice and train, going through different conditions, coming up with different strategies and trying to execute them against your teammates,” Maxwell said in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“My tactics will be exactly the same as I have played in Tests in the past, playing to my strengths and trying to have a really strong defense and back scoring options around that.”
Glenn Maxwell made his first audition for the 2013 BGT series
Glenn Maxwell made his Test debut in 2013 during the Border-Gavaskar series in India. He last made a Test appearance over seven years ago in 2017 during Australia's tour of Bangladesh.
Maxwell played all seven matches against Asian teams in the away series. His best Test performance came against India in 2017, where he scored his only Test century. Maxwell scored 339 runs at an average of just over 26 and took 8 wickets in Tests.
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