Glenn Maxwell on fastest ever world cup ton in 40 balls as Australia demolish Netherlands
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00:00 Glenn, how ill were you? How sick were you?
00:05 Yeah, not great. I was sitting in the change room and I didn't really want to bat, which is a bit different than the last game where I was way too eager to get out there.
00:18 And then we talked about over-arousal levels and I probably reached double maximum, if you couldn't tell. But yeah, I was a little bit more chilled when I got out there.
00:29 I didn't have many high hopes, I think. But yeah, I've been pretty quick the last couple of days.
00:35 Coincided with the sleepless night last night with the family over, but yeah, probably knew.
00:45 Is it a bit weird that you had to not be over-aroused, you had to under-arouse yourself to hit the fastest century in World Cup history?
00:52 It's a bit weird that I had to calm myself down for the first 20 odd balls and rebuild.
00:57 I think the circumstances of, I suppose, the timing of the wickets probably changed the way I would have gone about it if it was just me and Davey at the back end.
01:08 I felt like I was just super selective. Even with the boundaries I was hitting, until I got to about 50 or 60, I was literally hitting them flat through the gap or picking my spots pretty clearly where I wanted to go.
01:25 And then it was only the back end where I tried to just pump everything.
01:29 Where do you rate this innings? And also the fact that we are almost halfway through in the World Cup, coming at this stage where you have some important matches coming up.
01:43 How important is this for you, because you didn't have a very good run in ODIs. So how important is that?
01:51 I think the fact that I've made runs in India during the IPL pretty regularly over the last couple of years.
01:59 So I'm not too worried about people saying that I haven't made runs in ODI cricket because it doesn't really matter, especially with my role in one-day cricket.
02:11 It's so similar to T20s, so I just draw on those experiences, knowing that if I do get it right on the day, hopefully my team will be winning.
02:21 Having had a bit of success this year in India during the IPL, I've come to India during this World Cup full of confidence and even started well in the practice games with a good 70 against Pakistan.
02:35 So people talk about my last 21-day games, but they're spaced out over six years, over different continents all over the place, and one game at a time every four months.
02:46 So there's not really much you can go by.
02:49 Hey Glenn, well batted. Were there any shots that gave you particular satisfaction tonight?
02:54 We saw the reverse hits and then those two sixes that went over the scoreboard to bring up the century.
02:59 Were there any that gave you particular satisfaction?
03:02 There was probably one where I thought I was out.
03:07 The reverse of Van Beek that went for six over backward point.
03:12 I thought it was going to be slower into the wicket or back of a length and he bowled it full at I think middle and off.
03:18 Luckily enough my hand speed got me out of trouble and I suppose that's just the thing.
03:25 I feel like tonight I actually gave myself a chance to be able to play those shots at the back end where circumstances and pitch types I suppose in the first few games probably didn't allow me to.
03:36 I was in a stage of rebuilding and trying to get through and trying to bat as long as I possibly could and just haven't probably had the opportunity and as I said last game had the opportunity and threw it away.
03:46 Maxwell you were at 75 when two overs were left. Was the century in your mind?
04:05 Were you thinking about the century or were you thinking to go the bang bang way only?
04:09 It wasn't really in my mind. I was going to try and farm the strike for the back end.
04:16 I think it was about five overs to go and I told Paddy that I was going to try and control the last five overs as much as I possibly could.
04:23 If I got it on a run I thought there was no point in taking singles because it might just be a single back and forth where I could get a bunch of balls in a row and hopefully find some hitting rhythm.
04:36 I think on a ground like that if you can put pressure on a certain bowler or anyone and get a hold of them a couple of times in a row you can produce mistakes, you can produce errors.
04:47 I felt like that was what I did in the 49th over. I was able to put pressure on his good balls to get bad balls where I could actually hit for sixes.
04:56 I suppose that was just my tactics at the back end. I was lucky enough to get a couple of full tosses at the back end which highlighted I suppose there was a pretty good chance I was going to get 100.
05:10 Do you actually watch the balls faced on the scoreboard when you're playing in innings like that and do you have some sort of distant awareness of records or not?
05:22 I'm very aware of them. I'm very aware of balls faced. I love the fastest 50, fastest 100 records. I think they're pretty cool records.
05:32 Sometimes to the detriment of myself I've always probably pushed the boundaries a bit too much.
05:39 I think against Afghanistan in 2015 I was 88 off 37 and I was like I'm getting the next two balls and I hit one straight to cover and butchered it.
05:51 I think I got the fastest 100 in the next game. I've been in those positions before where I could make fast 100s when I get on the run.
06:00 I know I'm difficult to bowl to. It's just about getting past the first ball.
06:04 You started your IPL career here at Kotla. How different is this pitch from those IPL years? How do you see the difference in this square?
06:21 There's been a lot of totals of around 400, 380s in this tournament. What do you make of it when it comes to ODI cricket? It's obviously fun when it's T20 cricket.
06:33 What do you make of such surfaces for ODI cricket?
06:37 I think you're referring to 2012. The two games that I played for Delhi were at Kolkata and Bangalore. I didn't even play a game here.
06:46 I wasn't really invited to the ground after that either when all the big dogs arrived.
06:51 The surface has obviously changed. Back then we had Mornay Morkle, Umesh Yadav, Ruan Aron. We had a pace attack built for speed and bounce on this pitch.
07:02 It's probably changed over the years. It's been spin, it's been low, it's been hard work.
07:06 I think this World Cup, when you get a fresh wicket, it's beautiful to bat on. That was really nice out there tonight.
07:14 There were only a couple of balls that were a little bit slow off the pitch and reacted a bit different. Apart from that, it was really nice.
07:21 To answer your part about the 400 stuff, there's still a lot of things that need to go right to get 400.
07:28 There still needs to be a platform, there still needs to be solid intent through the middle overs.
07:33 And then you need a sensational finish. You need to be powerful at the back end.
07:38 South Africa, when they got their 420 here, they had three blokes get hundreds.
07:44 It took something even brilliant from Mark to come out and pump it around after a long partnership, which is sometimes not easy to do.
07:53 A big partnership is sometimes really hard to bat on after in one day cricket because you're expected to keep that momentum, but he did it beautifully.
08:03 Glenn, when you look at the last 12 months, not even a year since you broke your leg in those circumstances,
08:09 were there moments where you thought you wouldn't get back? I know you had issues there with setbacks of late as well.
08:15 There were probably moments during the post-South Africa T20 series when I was forced to go home with a little setback.
08:31 That was quite a frustrating period. I felt like I'd done a lot of good work post the blast, all that rehab back at home in Melbourne.
08:40 I felt like my strength and my fielding stuff was going really well.
08:45 To have that setback on day one of training was quite frustrating.
08:51 You do start to get some dark thoughts of, "Is this going to affect me for the whole World Cup?
08:55 Am I going to be struggling to get through every game? Am I going to be letting the team down by having a field in cold zones where I'm not getting much ball?"
09:05 That wouldn't have sat well with me if that had been the case.
09:09 The fact that I don't have to be hidden in the field is quite nice.
09:13 Don't worry, every game still hurts. It's still hard work, but it's nice to get that load and feel confident that I can get through a full one day out.
09:24 I had two questions, but it's fine. I'll ask one. Actually, I'll ask both.
09:29 Glenn, just about your batting, you spoke about the method behind the madness, how you set up the 49th over.
09:34 When you play innings like that, do you just get into a zone where, yes, you have your eye on the scorecard,
09:40 but you finish the innings and you're like, "Ooh, how did I pull that off?"
09:44 I get to a stage, I suppose, when I'm batting at the back end and I've got a read on the game, I don't try too much out of the ordinary.
09:57 I don't really lap. I didn't really go inside-out over cover. I didn't give my stumps away too much.
10:03 I reversed a couple of times, but that's only because I had a read on what they were trying to do and that the field was up in that position.
10:10 I didn't really try and take a fielder on in that position. I knew if I could play one or two, I'd get a different type of ball,
10:17 then I could cash in on that. I just felt really clear at the back end. I was able to stand quite still.
10:24 I felt I hit the ball where it needed to be hit.
10:27 Just on when the light show was going on, you stood with your eyes shut with your hands over there.
10:33 Is it because you're feeling a little ill or do those light kind of things always affect you?
10:38 I had something like that light show similar happen at Perth Stadium during a Big Bash game.
10:45 I just felt like it gave me shocking headaches and it takes me a while for my eyes to readjust.
10:49 I just think it's the dumbest idea for cricketers when you've got this thing coming at you quickly and your eyes take so long to adjust.
10:57 I think we just lost a wicket and the Perth Stadium lights went nuts.
11:01 I was at the other end and it took me ages to get my eyes to go again and I felt like I had a headache.
11:07 I just try and cover up as much as I possibly can and ignore it. It's a horrible, horrible idea.
11:14 Great for the fans, horrible for the players.
11:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]