In the 3rd T20I of a five-match series on Australia’s tour of New Zealand, a six by Glenn Maxwell broke a seat it landed on at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. Australia who had trailed New Zealand 2-0 before the game batted first and scored 208/4. After the early loss of Matthew Wade’s wicket, the visitors recovered thanks to an 83-run stand between Aaron Finch and Josh Phillippe. When Phillippe was out, the Australian scorecard read 89/2 and Finch was joined at the wicket by Maxwell. The pair put on 64 runs before Wade was out for 69 off 44 balls. With four overs to go, Maxwell took charge. He smashed 70 off 31 balls including 8 fours and 5 sixes. During his whirlwind knock, Maxwell punished a James Neesham over, smashing 28 runs off it.
Contents
Match-winning Knock
On the back of Maxwell’s assault, Australia reached 208/4 from their allotted overs. When New Zealand batted, they slipped from the relatively comfortable score of 109/3 in 12 overs to be all out for 144. With his slow left-arm spin, Ashton Agar took 6/30 to trigger the collapse and keep Australia alive in the series. The fourth match was scheduled for Friday, 5 March, to be followed by the fifth, on 7 March.
Seat to Be Auctioned for Charity
Maxwell’s innings marked his return to form after a series of low scores. It was the 17th over of the innings when James Neesham was brought back into the attack. Maxwell’s 28 runs from the over included two massive sixes, one of which — a flat batted swat over the square-leg fence — landed on the seat at the stadium and broke it. Authorities said that the seat broken by Maxwell’s six would be put up for auction. Post-match, Maxwell signed the seat to enable the authorities to auction it off for charity. Speaking to a media outlet, Maxwell is reported to have said, “I’ll make a donation and an apology for breaking a seat. I hadn’t hit too many in the middle, so I was happy to get it over the fence.”
Return to Form after String of Low Scores
Since scoring 62 against Sri Lanka in Adelaide on 27 October 2019, Maxwell has had a poor run of form. After that, he had scores of 1, 26, and 6 against England in September 2020, followed by innings of 2 and 22 against India in Canberra and Sydney, in the first two matches of the three-match series against the tourists. That was followed by an innings of 54 in the third game in Sydney, a match that Australia lost. In the first two matches of the current series, the Australia all-rounder made 1 and 3 respectively in the games in Christchurch and Dunedin. His match-winning knock of 70 in Wellington in the third T20I not only marked a return to form but also helped Australia to get back on track in a series they would have lost if the result of the third game had gone New Zealand’s way.