Maxwell ends year on the up with T20 award

Glenn Maxwell has ended a rollercoaster year on a high by being named Australia's Twenty20 Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal evening in Sydney.

The enigmatic allrounder was his country's star performer in Australia's disappointing ICC World T20 campaign in Bangladesh last March, topping the run-scorers list for what was then George Bailey's team and hitting a dozen sixes to be comfortably the Australia side's most dangerous player.

His blistering 74 from 33 balls against Pakistan in Dhaka in what was ultimately a lost cause included seven sixes and was one of the standout performances from Australia's year in Twenty20 cricket, and he followed it up with a similarly up-tempo 45 from 22 balls against West Indies in the next match.

Maxwell top-scored for the third time in as many matches during the defeat to India, making 23 as Australia were rolled for 86.

At the time, the Victorian wasn't seen as a guaranteed starter in coach Darren Lehmann's best XI following a lean run of form, but remained confident in his ability nonetheless.

"I'm not too fazed to tell you the truth; Twenty20 is a game where your form sort of ebbs and flows, especially when you're a middle-order player," he told cricket.com.au at the time.

"It's not as easy as everyone thinks to go out there and score at 10 an over, and if you don't you're unfortunately not doing your job.

"I just have to wait for my time, and sure enough I'll get a boundary and I'll be away."

Maxwell was a lone bright spot for Australia at the World T20 // Getty Images

The 26-year-old also demonstrated his wares with the ball throughout 2014, never more so than when he extracted sharp turn and bounce against Pakistan to claim 3-13 in another man-of-the-match performance during the one-off T20 in Dubai.

Those three scalps were added to braces against South Africa and England during the voting period, and have doubtless played some role in coach Darren Lehmann and the National Selection Panel's unwavering faith in the allrounder, who was selected as part of his first 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup squad earlier this month.

The selection came amid fierce scrutiny, with Maxwell maligned by much of the public for a poor run of form since returning to Australian shores this summer.

Indeed, the right-hander has saved much of his best cricket for foreign lands, excelling in the Indian Premier League (he was MVP of last year's tournament) and averaging twice as much outside Australia (36 against 18) in his 40-match one-day international career.

Maxwell's bowling won the sole T20 against Pakistan in Dubai // Getty Images

Earlier this month he opened up to cricket.com.au about his struggles during what he described as the "worst two months of my life" following the passing of his close mate Phillip Hughes, and explained how he had been frustrated by a lack of consistent red-ball cricket.

"I find red ball the easiest because I've got so much time," he explained. "There's no pressure. "I don't feel any expectation playing in the red-ball game.

"I don't feel like I have to prove anything to anyone. You can just go out there and do it.

"Where (in) one-day cricket you've got run rates, you've got all sorts of things that play on your mind as well as your own form and everything else that's going on.

"It's been a weird season. To go in and out of random formats, and in and out of teams, it's been pretty tough after what's happened with Hughesy.

"You combine that with everything else that was going on, it was probably the worst two months of my life right there and that (Hughes's passing) was the icing on the cake.

"I had a dream about him the other night and woke up really emotional.

"I keep having random moments of weakness where I just lose it because I start thinking about him.

"Out in the middle is the only time I've felt good."

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