Maturity, patience the focus for Maxwell

In the way that he bats, in his approach to the game, it’s not difficult to notice that Glenn Maxwell is one for thinking outside the square.

But in an era when bowlers routinely bemoan that changes to its laws and its hardware increasingly render cricket a batsman’s game, Maxwell has argued that one of those changes designed to open up more scoring opportunities for the big hitters actually makes it harder for him.

Ever since the powers that be altered the guidelines to allow ODI fielding teams a maximum of four fielders outside the restrictive circle instead of five thereby creating more gaps in the outfield, one of the game’s most innovative batsmen has been forced to radically alter his approach.

Simply because he now has too many options available to him.

And he fears that, as a consequence, the invitation to hit the ball into those wider expanses means there is a heightened risk he’ll choose the wrong one.

For someone who has been chastised for supposedly not putting enough thought into his shot selection, it would appear at face value he might just be over-thinking this change in the game that is likely to play a significant part in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.

But Maxwell’s explanation for this unlikely quandary is neither the jaded logic of someone looking to scapegoat their mistakes nor the brash over-confidence of one with an inflated view of their extensive skills set.

Rather, it is a frank appraisal from a young batsman looking to understand and learn from his fluctuating fortunes in order to succeed at the elite level.

The sort of unyielding self-assessment that has helped turn Steve Smith into Australia’s Test and ODI Player of the Year.

"In one-day cricket I think sometimes it can seem so easy," Maxwell said at last night’s Allan Border Medal presentation at which he was named Australia’s T20 International Player of the Year.

Look back on Maxwell's year in T20 cricket

"With four men outside the circle it can seem like you’ve got so many options, it can seem like you can hit the ball wherever you want and get away with it.

"So when you’ve got a lot of shots you’ve got a lot of options, and sometimes that can be your downfall.

"I’ve always had a lot of shots growing up and I think when there were five fielders outside the circle I found it a lot easier because there was less options to go to for boundaries.

"So I think finding my way of playing in that four-out style is still coming to me.

"That Prime Minister’s game (where Maxwell scored 136 from 89 balls) showed I am starting to come to grips with it, I am starting to find my way in one-day cricket with the four-out rule and I’m still trying to understand my game as well.

"It's something I have to get accustomed to and during this World Cup I’m hoping you’ll see a more mature and a more equipped player in the middle-order."

As an all-rounder, Maxwell can also appreciate the problems that the changed fielding restrictions create for bowlers, particularly spinners such as himself operating on Australian limited-overs’ pitches that provide minimal turn and true bounce.

"Players can confidently hit you inside-out against the spin and not have to worry about getting beaten by balls with a puff of dust," Maxwell lamented when contrasting the threat his finger-spin – and that of others – poses here as opposed to dry, dusty sub-continental pitches.

"They can confidently run down the wicket and hit you on the up and not have to worry about getting beaten on either side of the bat.

"So you’ve got to be a lot more tricky with your pace variations and that’s something that I’ve had to work quite hard on as well."

The other area that Maxwell, a player who is clearly searching for a balance between his outrageous natural ability and the need to think his way through constantly changing match scenarios, is looking to address is the self-imposed need to make an explosive start to his innings.

He revealed last night that he has spoken with former England batsman and Melbourne Stars teammate Kevin Pietersen, as well as taken on board the successful approach employed by Australia’s gun late-innings 'finisher' James Faulkner to take time settling in at the crease.

Which then means that the tighter fielding restrictions, and the array of strokes that he can play to all those parts of the grounds where the opposition fielders aren’t, can work to his advantage.

So used has Maxwell become to the helter-skelter of 20-over cricket in his hugely successful stints in the Indian Premier League, he has failed to appreciate how much extra time he has at his disposal in the 50-over format.

To get set and settled before launching himself at the bowling.

"The times I’ve been coming in one-day cricket (for Australia) - in the 30th to 40th over - you’ve got so much time to make it up," he said of the practice of playing out a number of 'dot' balls at the start of an innings in order to best gauge the pitch and match conditions.

"If you give yourself a chance to make sure you have your eye in you can make up however many dot balls you face at the start of your innings later on, and I think that’s why James Faulkner has been so good for us in that finishing role.

"He’s been giving himself a chance and been really relishing that latter-order role.

"He might be none off six (balls faced) but he makes it up straight away by hitting a couple of boundaries when he’s in.

"I think you’ve started to see a little bit of me starting to curb my natural game in that first 10 to 15 ball period when it’s a bit of an iffy period for a batter.

"And if you get past that you find that the opposition start to back off and make it quite easy for you by giving you more gaps in the field and more scoring opportunities."

Which all seems to make for a nice, circular theory.

Just how effectively that beyond-the-box thinking translates to the tension and intrigue of a cut-throat international will be revealed during Australia’s World Cup campaign that begins on February 14.