LONDON: Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (pictured) is preparing himself for plenty of banter in the forthcoming limited overs internationals against England.
Following England’s 3-0 Ashes series win completed with Sunday’s drawn fifth Test at The Oval, the arch-rivals face each other in international cricket’s shorter formats, starting with the first of two Twenty20 fixtures in Southampton today.
Australia Test captain Michael Clarke and England batsman Kevin Pietersen exchanged a few heated words at The Oval while, during the course of the fifth Test, Australia coach Darren Lehmann called Stuart Broad a cheat during a radio interview.
Lehmann was fined 20 precent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council but later apologised to Broad, with England’s Twenty20 captain then declaring the matter closed.
However, with both sides set to field much-changed teams at the Rose Bowl today, Maxwell does not anticipate any lingering feuds come the start of the white-ball series.
“All that was said was a bit hyped up and with the radio (as well),” Maxwell told Sky Sports News.
“There’s going to be a new set of banter in the T20, different squads and obviously a few mates as well so it should be good fun.
“It’s all part of the game, it’s good to be a part of and both teams play in the right spirit and I think the crowd enjoy it.”
Maxwell, nicknamed the ‘Million Dollar Man’ after he was sold for $1m at last season’s Indian Premier League, knows the Rose Bowl pitch well having played there last year for southern county Hampshire and anticipates plenty of runs today.
“It’s a beautiful batting wicket,” he said. “It’s a big ground as well so it’s going to be conducive to a lot of hard running in the field and it’s going to be very tough to defend later on in the evening. I think we’ll be going all guns blazing and hopefully put a big score on the board. It’s going to be a very tough few games.”
Maxwell could find himself playing against former county colleague Michael Carberry after the Hampshire opener was handed a recall to international cricket with a call-up into the Twenty20 squad. REUTERS
