Ponting has never hesitated to put his money on Maxwell, backing him across various coaching assignments. ©MLC
"Ricky Ponting makes you feel like you can walk on water," Glenn Maxwell once said of his Washington Freedom coach. On a chilly evening in San Francisco, against the LA Knight Riders, Maxwell was doing just that. Striding on air and defying conditions.
On a wicket where the next highest score across both sides was a modest 32, Maxwell produced a knock that was not just match-winning, but almost mystical in its command. His unbeaten 100 came off just 49 balls, a knock where he seemed to take the pitch entirely out of the equation. The surface may have challenged others, but not him.
In a superhuman-esque display, Glenn Maxwell launched 13 sixes in the space of 34 deliveries but what made the knock truly remarkable was the way it unfolded. For his first 15 balls, Maxwell batted like mere mortals did on that tough San Francisco pitch, cautious and restrained. It was a phase completely out of character for a player known for audacity from ball one, but it spoke volumes about his awareness of the conditions and his responsibility as a leader. Then, as if flipping a switch, he shed the workman's cloak and donned the superhero cape. From ball 16 onward, Maxwell unleashed a breathtaking assault, dismantling the LA Knight Riders' attack with towering sixes.
"I gave myself a chance and being captain, you sort of feel that responsibility to carry on for the team. I sort of put aside my first 20 balls and just invest as much as I possibly can. And that really paid off. I felt like I was able to get to a position where we had to go, and we had to try and get ourselves to a tally that we could defend. And I probably had about 155- 160 in my head, and thought it was going to be difficult at some stages, and I was just able to hit pretty consistently at the back end. And probably got more than I thought we would get. It feels like at different stages in India, I've felt it straight away when I've got over there. And sometimes the results haven't quite gone my way. And it'll take an innings like this, where I can start to sort of get a bit of a roll. Even like the other night, I felt like just a bit of time out in the middle was all I needed to feel that confidence coming back" said Maxwell after his whirlwind innings.
The fact that Glenn Maxwell now captains a side coached by Ricky Ponting adds yet another compelling chapter to the story of two of cricket's most exhilarating minds. Both mad geniuses in their own right, the relationship between Maxwell and "Punter" Ponting has long been built on mutual admiration and unwavering belief.
Ponting has never hesitated to put his money on Maxwell, backing him across various coaching assignments despite the rollercoaster nature of Maxwell's career. Maxwell admitted to having let Ponting down on a couple of occasions at the presentation ceremony. But it's for nights like these when Maxwell bends the game to his will that Ponting feels absolved. A punt on what some might call a mug's bet, paying off in full.
"I'll probably let him down in a few of the tournaments that we've played together. It's nice that last year we were able to have success in the Freedom together. And it was a shame I couldn't be around for a lot of the back end of the Punjab tournament where I broke my finger. I think in this tournament, to be captain and play under him, I feel like we've got a great opportunity to hopefully add to last year's trophy"
The sixes didn't just land in the stands, they landed in hearts. While some flew beyond the boundary ropes of the Coliseum; few more, metaphorically, landed thousands of miles away in the Washington DC area. Just as Maxwell raised his bat for the century, someone in Virginia placed an order for a Maxwell jersey, followed by a couple more from Maryland. Maxwell is winning the DC area one six at a time.
© Cricbuzz
