Glenn Maxwell puts Australian representation first with no plans to retire from international cricket

Glenn Maxwell wants to play for Australia as long as possible and has declared his experience makes him a valuable proposition beyond the ODI World Cup.

Among Maxwell’s contemporaries, opening batter Aaron Finch retired from international cricket earlier this year and David Warner plans to follow suit in the summer.

More changes are likely in the coming years with Marcus Stoinis, Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh among the other white-ball mainstays now in their 30s.

In other indicators the limited-overs set-up is in a period of transition, Matthew Wade has been overlooked for the coming T20 series against South Africa and Marsh has been named the new captain.

Maxwell turns 35 during the World Cup that begins in India in October but the middle-order batter has no plans to follow anyone out the door just yet.

“I’ll keep playing as long as people will have me, until they think that someone is more deserving of my spot, which is fine,” he said at the launch of Kayo’s World Cup coverage on Monday.

“Until then, I’ll keep plugging along.

“I still feel fit, I still feel young, especially with the role I play. I still try to hit it to hotspots on the field, I’m not hiding at all.”

Far from feeling hampered by his age, the middle-order stalwart is emboldened by the lessons learned across 226 white-ball internationals.

Maxwell has ridden the highs including starring in Australia’s victorious 2015 World Cup campaign, and his unbeaten 145 against Sri Lanka in 2016, to lows such as his relegation from the ODI side after the 2019 World Cup.

“I’ve got a lot of scar tissue that’s been built up from the mistakes I’ve made in that role,” he said.

“It’s a hard thing for a young player to come in and do that role.

“When you have those young guys that come in, they might have success with their first game but a couple of games of failure, it’s really hard to come back from.

“Sometimes you just get used to failure as an older person and you can sort of have the resilience to come back from it.”

A career travelling the world playing in franchise T20 leagues, similar to those enjoyed by Chris Lynn, Tim David or Dan Christian, appeals to Maxwell.

But he said that would not come at the expense of playing for Australia.

“It certainly looks better as far as time-wise, even just missing birthdays, weddings, life events. I think that appeals to me,” he said.

“But in saying that, I’ve still got a fair way to go in my cricket career.

“There’s still some things I really want to tick off in my career. I think if I retired early, I probably wouldn’t be doing justice to my younger self, who had all these goals and aspirations.

“There’s still a few things I want to tick off.”