All posts by n8rngtd.top

A new play on the tragic decline of former England and Northamptonshire batsman Colin Milburn will visit all 18 county cricket clubs in November

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2016A new play on the tragic decline of former England and Northamptonshire batsman Colin Milburn will visit all 18 county cricket clubs in November. is a one-man show that has been written by James Graham-Brown, the former Kent and Derbyshire all-rounder turned playwright, and is being produced by Live Wire/Roughhouse Theatre in association with the Professional Cricketers’ Association.The play is set in the North Briton pub in Newton Aycliffe in County Durham on February 28 1990, the last day of Milburn’s life and the end of his performance as ‘Jolly Ollie’, the character he had developed to conceal his insecurities and suffering.Milburn, whose destructive career was cut short by the loss of the sight in his left eye in a car accident in May 1969, died in the North Briton car park aged 48 after he drifted into chronic alcoholism.All county clubs have agreed to support the PCA in putting on the play around the country, partly with the intention of helping current players appreciate the importance of planning for life after cricket.”This new, exciting initiative focuses on what can happen when a playing career suddenly ends and a player struggles with a difficult transition,” said Jason Ratcliffe, PCA Assistant Chief Executive. “Ollie’s story puts this into sharp focus.”, which is also supported by the Arts Council, will begin its nationwide tour at Somerset’s Taunton headquarters on November 1 and will visit all 18 county grounds before the final performance at Wantage Road, Milburn’s old Northampton stamping ground, on November 24.Auditions for the role of Milburn have just taken place and the identity of the actor who will play the role will be announced shortly.Graham-Brown, who writes under the name Dougie Blaxland, has written 32 plays, 14 of which have been produced in professional theatre.When the Eye Has Gone’ is the PCA’s 2016 initiative to promote mental health and wellbeing.Dates:October: 28 & 29: Lansdown CC, Bath, 30 Dorchester Arts.November: 1 Somerset (The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton), 2 Gloucestershire CCC (The Brightside Ground, Bristol), 3 Glamorgan (The SSE SWALEC, Cardiff), 4 Worcestershire (New Road, Worcester), 7 Warwickshire (Edgbaston), 8 Lancashire (Emirates Old Trafford), 9 Derbyshire (The 3aaa County Ground, Derby – TBC), 10 Yorkshire (Headingley Carnegie), 11 Durham (Emirates Riverside, Chester-le-Street), 12 Burnopfield CC, 14 Essex (The Essex County Ground, Chelmsford), 15 Kent (The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury), 16 Sussex (The 1st Central County Ground, Hove), 17 Surrey (The Kia Oval), 18 Middlesex (Lord’s), 19 Teddington CC, 21 Hampshire (Ageas Bowl), 22 Leicestershire (Fischer County Ground, Leicester), 23 Nottinghamshire (Trent Bridge Inn, Nottingham), 24 Northamptonshire (County Ground, Northampton), 25 West Hallam CC.More information: www.ticketsource.co.uk/the-professional-cricketers-association

Former England batsman returns to club where he forged memorable career

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2021Jonathan Trott has returned to Warwickshire as a batting consultant for the men’s squad.Trott, who retired in 2018 with a haul of 18,662 first-class runs and more than 12,000 more in List A and T20 cricket, performed a similar role for England during their winter tour of the subcontinent. He had previously had spells as batting coach with the U19 and Lions sides and was part of the England coaching team at various times during the 2020 international season. He was also batting coach at Kent in 2019.While Trott missed out on the role of Elite Batting Coach at the ECB – the job was given to Marcus Trescothick – he stood in for Trescothick during the limited-overs leg of the India tour after Trescothick suffered a family bereavement. Although Trott has no official role with England, it would be no surprise if he was called-in for further short-term engagements to allow breaks for the full-time coaching staff.The son of a professional batting coach, Trott has coached from a young age. Growing up in Cape Town, he ran sessions alongside Bob Woolmer and was credited by Dom Sibley for his help after he graduated to the England team.Trott will now bring his experience, including 52 Test caps between 2009 and 2015, back to the county game in support of Warwickshire’s coaching team of Mark Robinson, Graeme Welch, Tony Frost and Ian Westwood.Related

• Jonathan Trott takes on short-term coaching role at Kent

• Jonathan Trott stresses importance of first-innings runs as England brace for Chennai challenge

“It means a huge amount to me to return to Warwickshire, in this new role as a consultant,” said Trott. “There’s a lot of talented players in the squad, some of whom I know well from my time within the playing ranks. I’m very excited to have this opportunity and to hopefully supporting the Bears on our journey to becoming a team that consistently challenges for trophies again.”Paul Farbrace, Director of Cricket at Warwickshire CCC, said: “Jonathan knows exactly what it takes to win trophies with Warwickshire and England. He will be a great support and mentor to the players and he could play a significant role in developing several members of the squad.”Since finishing his playing career at Edgbaston in 2018, Jonathan has also gone away and built a strong coaching portfolio, which has included county cricket with Kent and home and overseas series with England. We’re very happy to have him back with the Bears.”

There was no long apprenticeship at the fringes of the Test side for Kusal Mendis. There were no tours with the A team, or leadership positions in his club side

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-May-2016There was no long apprenticeship at the fringes of the Test side for Kusal Mendis. There were no tours with the A team, or leadership positions in his club side. But such opportunities as have been thrown his way have been seized, and now, he has his first Test fifty. In five innings in England so far – including in the two warm-up matches – Mendis has hit three half-centuries. None of his team-mates have managed more than one.It is his first trip to England with a Sri Lanka outfit, but not his first experience of cricket in the country. In 2014, when he was fresh out of school, he played for Southgate in the Middlesex leagues. That experience has done him good, Mendis said.”I got a lot of good experience from coming here for four months, partly because I was on my own,” he said. “I learned a lot about how to adjust to conditions and how to deal with that initial disappointment of not knowing them very well. And also about how to play when it’s cold. I got to do that alone, and got a lot of useful experience from that.”Having returned from his English stint, Mendis had his first taste of first-class cricket in 2015. But it was while leading a Sri Lanka Development XI in the Moin-ud-Dowlah three-day tournament in Hyderabad that he threw himself into Test contention with scores of 156, 52 and 47 there, and though he hasn’t yet cemented his place in the top side, has three scores of more than 40 in his last five Test innings, all of which have been played outside Asia.He has experienced an “immense” leap in the quality of opponents since coming to the top side, he said. But there has been helpful advice in withstanding good bowling, and good sledging, along the way. At Headingley, James Anderson tested him with both.”No one tried to change my technique much,” Mendis said. “They just asked me to play as I was. Mentally there were a few changes. The advice was mainly about mentally adjusting. They told me about being patient at this level, because it’s five-day cricket. That was something they stressed. You get far fewer loose balls at this level. If there are four men in the attack, all of them are very good, and it’s a challenge to score runs.”They also told me about how to respond when bowlers talked to me. If we go to argue with them, we lose our concentration. It’s important to focus on the game.”He is attempting to fill large shoes at present, taking up the No. 3 spot that Kumar Sangakkara had held for the decade. Mendis is not under pressure to emulate Sangakkara’s runs just yet, but he does feel the position is a good fit for his game.”It’s a big responsibility. I’ve played there before for my club, and I’ve been thinking about what is possible for me and what needs to be done there. I have to contribute runs to stay in that position and the team. I try to bat the same way every day, with allowances for the pitch. Some wickets you can score quickly and others you can’t.”The 53 at Headingley had boosted his confidence, but like his team-mates, he must learn quickly from his flaws as well.  “Everyone said it was a good innings. They also gave me some advice on the weaknesses – especially about foot movement. We’re very disappointed as a side at how the match turned out, but we’re hopeful the next game will be much better.”

Seamer unavailable for second Test pending disciplinary investigation into historic tweets

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2021Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013.As a result, Robinson is unavailable for selection for the second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston on Thursday.Announcing his suspension on Sunday, the ECB confirmed that Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county, Sussex.Robinson issued an apology on Wednesday after admitting to posting “racist and sexist” comments on Twitter as a teenager. News of the tweets emerged shortly after Robinson walked onto the field at Lord’s in his Test debut earlier that day. It was also just after England and New Zealand players had stood on the side of the field shortly before the start of the first Test in a ‘moment of unity’ with the home players wearing T-shirts which denounced various forms of discrimination.Speaking after the drawn first Test, in which Robinson took a total of seven wickets – with 4 for 75 and 3 for 26 – and scored 42 in England’s first innings, Joe Root, the England captain, said that while Robinson’s debut had been “exceptional” from an on-field performance point of view, his historical actions off-field were unacceptable.”He’s contributed well with the bat, his performance with the ball was excellent,” Root said. “He’s showed high levels of skill and he’s definitely got the game that can be successful in Test cricket.”But in regards to the stuff that’s happened off the field, it’s not acceptable within our game. We all know that. He addressed the dressing room straight away. He obviously spoke to you guys and other media outlets straight away, fronted up to it. He showed a lot of remorse from that point onwards. You can see it’s very genuine from how he’s been around the group and the team.Related

• It's coming home. Maybe. Who cares, really?

• Another England men's player found to have posted discriminatory content

• UK government weighs in on Ollie Robinson's suspension by ECB

• England hold out for draw with Dom Sibley's unbeaten fifty

• Joe Root: England, New Zealand will take 'moment of unity' ahead of first Test

“I couldn’t believe them [the tweets], personally. I didn’t really know how to take it on the surface. I think the most important thing is Ollie is part of this dressing room and we had to support him. We had to try and do everything that we could to give him an opportunity to learn and understand he has to do better.”I think it’s a great lesson for everyone within our game that we can all do more. We all have to keep looking to educate ourselves, trying to better the environment for everyone, trying to be as inclusive as we can, keep making everyone feel comfortable to play what a wonderful sport we have.”In the lead-up to the first Test, Root had said that the ‘moment of unity’ would mark the start of a year of action to improve inclusivity and diverstiy within the sport.”It starts with us players at the top of the game,” he said on Sunday.” We set out the week with that moment of unity and we’re doing a lot of work behind the cricket that we want to make big change in the game and we want to make it more inclusive, more diverse.”I think the most important thing is we keep trying to do everything we can to better our sport, that we keep learning and we keep finding ways of making our game as best as we can.”We can look back about how this could have been handled better, but the fact is it shouldn’t have happened. And if we continue to keep trying to better the game right now, then in years to come this shouldn’t be an issue. This shouldn’t be something that happens within cricket. We’ve got to move forward from this, learn from this and do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”The ECB promised to conduct a full invstigation once the Tweets emerged.After play on Wednesday, Robinson said: “On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, which have today become public. I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist.”I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks. I would like to unreservedly apologise to anyone I have offended, my teammates and the game as a whole in what has been a day of action and awareness in combatting discrimination from our sport.”

India coach understands the need to quicken things up, but hopes for a reasonable amount of leeway as well

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-20225:27

Dravid: ‘Kohli has been a phenomenal leader and captain inspite of the noise around him’

India coach Rahul Dravid is disappointed that his team has lost a World Test Championship point for their slow over rate in Centurion, but he has no issues with the principle behind the rule. India have now been docked three WTC points over this cycle, having already lost two for their slow over rate at Trent Bridge in August.”The rules are the same for everyone,” Dravid said, on the eve of the second Test in Johannesburg. “We understand that, we know that. It’s hard – I mean we’re playing four seamers, conditions were very hot in the two days that we bowled, and we’re trying. It’s an area we need to get better at. We’ve discussed that, we’ve had a few chats around it.Related

• Elgar on de Kock retirement: 'I was pretty shocked'

• Red-hot India look to wrap up series at Wanderers

• Dravid: 'Virat has been phenomenal in spite of all the noise around him'

“We got docked one over in this game – it is disappointing to lose points because each of these points, especially these overseas points, are really hard-earned, and we have to earn each and one of them, so it is [disappointing], and we need to get better at that, and we need to ensure that we’re not docked more points, because in the end, it would be very disappointing to miss out [on a place in the WTC final] because of over-rate points that get docked, so yeah, it’s something we need to work on.”While Dravid could see the need for measures to speed up play, he suggested circumstances in Centurion – Jasprit Bumrah went off the field during South Africa’s first innings with a twisted ankle, and there was some confusion around which new ball India had chosen before they began bowling in the second innings – made it trickier for the team to stay within their time limit.”I think the ICC is trying something,” Dravid said. “It does feel harsh when you’re a coach, but it certainly gets us thinking, it certainly gets us wanting to quicken it up. They’ve tried fines in the past and that doesn’t seem to work, tried other methodologies in the past that don’t seem to work, so the ICC is trying to go down the points route, which I’m fine with.”I don’t have a particular issue with it, it’s been clearly communicated to us that this is the methodology. As long as there’s a bit of leeway and a bit of understanding when the game is on. We had a few injury issues last time as well. Of course we were given some leeways, but sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint how many minutes you lose when you have Jasprit Bumrah roll over an ankle and the physio’s got to go in and spend a lot of time doing that, and there are a few other issues, with the ball change last time, so there were a few small areas that maybe we can get a little bit better at, but as a principle, look, I’m fine with it, we know what it is, we just need to react and respond better.”

Graham Wagg and Craig Meschede rescued Glamorgan with a partnership of 160 in 33 overs for the seventh wicket after Kent’s seamers had threatened to take control on the second day in Cardiff

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2016
ScorecardGraham Wagg’s innings of 83 lifted Glamorgan to a competitive score•Getty Images

Graham Wagg and Craig Meschede rescued Glamorgan with a partnership of 160 in 33 overs for the seventh wicket after Kent’s seamers had threatened to take control on the second day in Cardiff.Mitchell Claydon helped reduce Glamorgan to 137 for 6 but the efforts of Wagg and Meschede, who made 83 and 78 respectively, helped their side to a competitive first-innings total of 351 on a fresh pitch that encouraged the seamers. Kent had six overs to face at the end of the day and ended on 10 for nought.Wagg and Meschede’s partnership was a record for the seventh wicket against Kent, exceeding the 107 previously set by Eifion Jones and Arthur Francis at Canterbury in 1982.After the morning session had been lost to rain – with 104.5 overs now lost over two days – Claydon soon made inroads by taking 3 for 17 in 28 balls, including Will Bragg and Chris Cooke, who had added 88 for the third wicket. Bragg chased a wide one, which he nicked to the wicketkeeper Adam Rouse, before Cooke was surprised by a lifter and was taken at third slip.Aneurin Donald was also out to a loose stroke, and when David Lloyd’s enterprising innings ended with Calum Haggett’s second ball of the day, Kent would have been pleased by their bowlers’ efforts.The seventh-wicket pair began cautiously but then produced an array of attacking strokes, with Wagg reaching 50 by taking 10 runs from James Tredwell’s only over of the innings.Meschede was dropped twice on 43 and 46 before reaching his half-century. Wagg was 17 runs away from his second century against Kent this season when he edged Claydon to second slip, before Meschede, whose only other fifty this season was also against Kent, was dismissed by Haggett, who took his third wicket when Timm Van Der Gugten became wicketkeeper Rouse’s fourth victim.A rousing partnership of 33 between Andrew Salter and Michael Hogan enabled Glamorgan to gain a fourth batting point by passing 350, while Claydon was rewarded for his wholehearted effort by taking 5 for 106.

The idea behind the change is to “add a fresh look and fresh feel,” co-owner says

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Feb-2021The Kings XI Punjab will now be called Punjab Kings. The idea behind the change is to “add a fresh look and fresh feel,” Mohit Burman, one of the co-owners of the franchise, said.According to Burman, the franchise, which also has Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karn Paul as the other owners, will also unveil a new logo on Wednesday as part of its rebranding strategy. Burman, who is vice-chairman at Dabur India Pvt. Ltd, said the plan to rename the team had been in the works for at least a year.Burman said that the franchise decided to change the name following not just in-house feedback but also from fans. “We put it to research, both with fans and with closed groups and have finally arrived at the new name,” Burman told ESPNcricinfo. “The idea behind the new name is to add a fresh look and a fresh feel to the franchise. As with any product/service, everything has its own life cycle and we believe given the changing ethos and the audience taste we thought it was apt for the brand to go through a complete new refresh.”Related

• IPL 2021 auction: Who will the Super Kings, Capitals, Punjab Kings and Knight Riders target?

• S Marsh, Corey Anderson, M Morkel on final IPL auction list

The franchise has timed the rebranding exercise in the week of the IPL auction. In fact, the new name and the logo will be unveiled the day before the auction – a small one this year – where a total of 61 slots are available for the eight franchises to fill their teams up.The Kings have the strongest purse this auction at INR 53.9 crore having released several players recently including Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, who were some of the most expensive buys at the 2020 auction. Overall the Kings have nine slots to fill to reach the maximum squad strength of 25, including five overseas players.Instability has been among the factors that have hurt the franchise in the 13 seasons, during which they made the playoffs only twice: in 2008 and 2014.Last year the franchise spent INR 68.5 crore out of the total purse of 85 crore under the new team management led by former Indian captain Anil Kumble, who took charge as the team director. India wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul was named the new captain. Although Rahul was the most consistent performer last season, Maxwell’s weak form combined with the close defeats in three crucial matches hurt their playoff chances as they finished sixth.The Kings are the second franchise to opt for a new name. In 2018, the Delhi Daredevils rebranded themselves as the Delhi Capitals after Indian business conglomerate Jindal South-West (JSW) Group bought a 50% stake in the franchise, which is co-owned by GMR Sports Private Ltd.KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns Kings XI, recently also purchased the Caribbean Premier League team St Lucia Zouks about a year ago.

Review will address historical issues, remind players of responsibilities and “help them learn”

George Dobell12-Jun-2021The ECB has announced a “social media review” after admitting the sport’s attempts to prove itself inclusive have been “severely diminished” following the emergence of a series of historic tweets by players.The episode was sparked by the re-emergence of comments made by Ollie Robinson on Twitter when he was aged 18 and 19. The tweets, which included sexist and racist material, came to prominence on Robinson’s first day as a Test player and jarred with the team’s commitment to combatting discrimination.In the following days, numerous further historic tweets from high-profile players came to light which also looked at odds with the standards and values expressed by the current England team and ECB executive.Coming at a time when the sport is desperate to promote a more inclusive image, it left the ECB board admitting in a statement on Saturday that its “aspiration to become a more inclusive and welcoming sport for all” was “severely diminished whilst discriminatory content remains in the social media space”.The ECB board therefore confirmed a social media review designed to “address any historical issues, remind individuals of their personal responsibilities going forward, and help them learn lessons along the way”.Related

• Extremely loud and incredibly vile: how social media abuse wrecks cricketers

• Ollie Robinson suspended from all international cricket

• UK government weighs in on Ollie Robinson's suspension by ECB

• England to reaffirm commitment to 'improve society through sport' before Edgbaston Test

• Battle-lines drawn in the culture war as Ollie Robinson episode becomes political cricket ball

The statement went on to say that the ECB will work with various other bodies, including the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) to agree the terms of reference for a review. Further disciplinary action has not been ruled out, but the statement hints that education will be the key tool of progress.”Making cricket a game for everyone is central to the game’s ‘Inspiring Generations’ strategy,” Ian Watmore, the ECB chair, said. “Celebrating our many brilliant role models in men’s, women’s and disability cricket is essential to that aim, and the right use of social media is a critical means for achieving it.”As the national governing body, we must steer a path between helping individuals project an inclusive image, educating them on what is expected of them and allowing them the space to express themselves to the public. We must also investigate their actions and sanction them when they fall short.”The board was unanimous in support of the [ECB] executive in the actions taken by them in the last week and agrees with their plans to move the game forward in a spirit of inclusion, education and personal responsibility, whilst addressing those cases which cause most offence head on.”There was also an admission from Rob Lynch, the PCA chief executive, that “there is always more we can do”. Current arrangements see the PCA advise players on their social media content and monitor the Twitter and Instagram accounts of current England players. There is no system of reviewing historic posts.”We are committed to working with our members and the ECB on further education and there is always more that we can do,” Lynch said. “We will consult with our members and work with the ECB to develop terms of reference for a social media review, which in turn, will lead to better insight and an opportunity to improve.”Our commitment, as always in times like this is to ensure the ECB process is fair and considered and to offer support, advice, and education to all of our members.”

Trevor Bayliss has described speculation over Alastair Cook’s future as captain as “a pain in the backside” and insisted that the dressing room is united in its support for him

George Dobell13-Dec-20162:32

Cook form outweighed by spin problems

Trevor Bayliss has described speculation over Alastair Cook’s future as captain as “a pain in the backside” and insisted that the dressing room is united in its support for him.Cook’s future has been called into question since he gave an interview to the magazine on the eve of the Bangladesh and India tours in which he said: “Deep down I don’t know how much longer I am going to carry on. It could be two months, it could be a year.”Suspicions he was preparing to step down only escalated after Cook described Joe Root as “ready to captain” following defeat in the Mumbai Test. That result meant England had lost three Tests in succession, four of their last five and five of their last seven. From a position where England were a result or two from reaching the top of the Test rankings in August, they are now facing the prospect of dropping to fifth if they lose the final Test of the series against India in Chennai.But Bayliss, the England coach, is clearly in no doubt that he wants Cook to continue. Describing Cook’s record as “fantastic”, Bayliss acknowledged that talk of him standing down had become a distraction.”I think everyone, to a man, in the dressing room would be disappointed if he wasn’t captain,” Bayliss said. “But when it’s constantly in the media all the time, it’s a bit of a pain in the backside. Especially when no one around the team believes that or thinks that. It’s a little bit aggravating.”I suppose anyone who’s done the job for that long, there’s always going to be questions towards the twilight of his career. But the job he’s done with the group, I think, has been fantastic.”Bayliss was especially frustrated as talk over Cook’s future had, he felt, detracted from “all the good things” England have achieved on the tour. And it is true that, while the scoreline is grim, England can take some comfort in the emergence of a couple of promising top-order batsmen, in Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed, and the improvement in Adil Rashid’s legspin bowling.”It takes the focus away from all the good things we’ve done on this tour,” Bayliss said. “I think we’ve played some good cricket here. We’ve got to give credit where credit’s due: we’ve played good cricket and they’ve played even better cricket.”Bayliss now plans to speak to Cook and Andrew Strauss, the managing director of the England team, to resolve the uncertainty over the captaincy.”We’ve had some discussions in the past,” he said. “But those two guys – Cook and Strauss – have obviously had a big history. I’m sure we’ll have a chat between the two or three of us.”Bayliss has previously stated that he expected Cook to be captain for the Ashes series in 12 months’ time. “He’s talking about the next Ashes series and being out in Australia,” Bayliss told the BBC last week. “Sometimes there are little comments made along the way and they get blown out of all proportion.”He’s certainly up for the fight. I haven’t had any discussion with him any other way and that’s what we’ve been working towards. I was as surprised as anyone when I saw that in the papers.”

RCB will be Maxwell’s fourth IPL team since 2012

Saurabh Somani06-Apr-20217:08

Gambhir, Vettori discuss Maxwell’s form over the years

That Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Glenn Maxwell will represent his fourth franchise in IPL 2021 points to his inherent inconsistency in the tournament, according to Gautam Gambhir.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir – who briefly captained him at Delhi Daredevils in 2018 – has said that Maxwell had received more freedom than any other player in the IPL by his past teams, but wasn’t retained by them because he could not be consistent.Related

• Virat Kohli: No home advantage in IPL 2021 is a positive

• Maxwell wants to be a 'positive influence' on RCB, and performances 'can take care of themselves'

• Australians at IPL 2021 – the form guide

• Hesson calls Maxwell his 'X-Factor'

“Had Maxwell done really well in the IPL, he wouldn’t have played for so many franchises, to be honest,” Gambhir said. “He’s played for so many franchises because he’s not been consistent at all. We can’t keep talking about ‘he hasn’t had the freedom’ for the previous franchises he’s played for… when he played for Delhi, he had a lot of freedom. Most of these franchises and coaches – because they think he’s an X-factor – they want to try and provide him with the best platform where he can succeed. The most unfortunate thing is that despite getting that platform, he has not succeeded, apart from that one season in 2014 where he set the IPL on fire. Had he done that, I think none of the franchises would have released him. Look at what Andre Russell has done for KKR and the amount of time he’s spent at one franchise.”The only reason why a franchise releases you is because you haven’t performed. The more franchises you play for, it just shows you haven’t really been able to get settled in any of the franchises. Hopefully, he delivers this time around because every year, he keeps getting more and more money just because he does really well for Australia. So hopefully from RCB’s point of view, he can do really well. He’s probably got freedom more than any other player in the IPL. I feel he has been very disappointing throughout the IPL, but hopefully, this time around he can turn it.”Maxwell’s numbers playing in the IPL make for a stark contrast to when he’s played for Australia or for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League. While his scoring rate remains high, Maxwell has found a consistency with the Stars and Australia that he hasn’t found with any IPL franchise. In the IPL, Maxwell – who has represented Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab and Daredevils previously – averages 22.13 and strikes at 154.67 since 2012. In that same period for the Stars and Australia, he has averaged 32.72 and has a strike rate of 154.13.Maxwell’s BBL numbers are far superior to his IPL numbers•Getty Images

Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand captain who played for – and coached the Royal Challengers – felt that the focus that Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers tend to draw will allow Maxwell to maintain a low profile in the side, which may work to the Australian’s advantage.”The emphasis normally is on AB and Kohli, and Maxwell in a way can fly under the radar,” Vettori told ESPNcricinfo. “Hopefully that lack of pressure will allow him to have an IPL that everyone expects him to most years.”Where he’s been successful, particularly at Melbourne Stars, he’s been engaged, he’s been captain and he’s been the senior player. He’s been given a lot of responsibility and I think that’s where teams tend to get the best out of him. Even though de Villiers and Kohli are the focal points, if they can spread that leadership across him, I think that will be the best way to utilise him.”Gambhir held that the Royal Challengers had a team structure that would allow Maxwell to bat consistently at No.4, alongside de Villiers at No.3 – which Vettori called “a lethal combination” in the middle.”I’ve been saying it, RCB needs to do something different,” Gambhir said. “So they’ve got to push AB at No.3 and Maxwell at No.4. And they’ve got Padikkal and Virat Kohli, and now you’ve got the option of Kyle Jamieson and Daniel Sams. So you don’t need to actually have Maxwell as a finisher because Daniel Sams can hit a long ball, Kyle Jamieson can hit a long ball, you’ve got Washington Sundar who can bowl and bat.”So rather make them [de Villiers and Maxwell] bat at No. 3 and 4 and that’s going to be a good combination. What happens is, your top four becomes really, really strong. With this kind of combination, I will try and take that punt and probably make them bat at three and four together.”