Maxwell reveals new 'mystery shot'

Having enlisted cricket's most successful Test bowler to help decipher the conundrum of mystery spin, Australia is now pioneering the 'mystery shot' with limited-overs star Glenn Maxwell revealing he has been secretly working on a new addition to his batting repertoire.

Maxwell, crowned as the Most Valuable Player in the most recent edition of the Indian Premier League, is renowned as one of the most innovative thinkers and executors in the white ball forms of the game.

His ability and preparedness to launch into a reverse sweep, ramp shot or the sort of unconventional fence-clearing slog unknown to any technique textbook has brought crowds to their feet around the world and triggered the occasional dose of heartburn among his colleagues.

Maxwell's 552 runs for Kings XI Punjab in this year's IPL came from just 294 balls faced – a rate unsurpassed by anyone who faced more than 100 deliveries during the tournament – and included a remarkable 36 sixes to virtually every corner of a cricket ground.

But in his quest to keep up the pressure on opposition bowlers and ensure he can score heavily from pretty much every ball he faces, the 25-year-old has been tinkering in the 'shed' with a shot that's not been seen before in international cricket.

And Maxwell told cricket.com.au that, having trialled the new stroke during his recent stint with English county Hampshire, he is hoping to unveil it in the international arena during the upcoming Australian summer.

"I played it in England and got a boundary for it, so I might try and bring it out in Australia," Maxwell said, although he was initially reluctant to discuss too many details of the innovative shot.

"It's off a short ball.

"You might see it this summer."

However, cricket.com.au has unearthed footage that sheds some light on the mystery, with Maxwell confirming the shot in question was one he played during his match-winning one-day innings for Hampshire against Lancashire at Old Trafford earlier this year.

It's not dissimilar in intent to the ramp shot – with a short-pitched ball delivered at pace being effectively 'scooped' over the head of the wicketkeeper and slips cordon – but does not require the batsman to place himself in physical danger by trying to duck beneath the ball while playing it.

In this case, Maxwell simply rocks back in his batting stance and allows the ball to run along the face of the bat to one of the few points of the ground where a boundary fielder is rarely stationed.

While he has yet to assign a patented name to this latest source of bowler irritation, Maxwell believes that the next evolutionary stage for limited-overs cricket is for such innovations to be accepted as part of the standard batting repertoire rather than a collection of party tricks.

"I suppose (batsmen) just keep working on them, to try and make them a custom shot (and) rather than calling it an innovation they start calling it a conventional stroke," Maxwell said.

"I think that's the next step for international cricketers, and the next step for the game.

"It's going to make one-day cricket extremely hard for the bowlers, especially when guys are hitting the ball 360 degrees comfortably.

"As a batsman, it makes it a lot easier to manipulate fields and really trouble the opposition.

"So it's a good thing for batters, not very much fun for bowlers unfortunately."

The other new element that Maxwell is hoping to bring to his game as Australia begins its preparation for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup is greater match awareness.

He was on the receiving end of a public rebuke from coach Darren Lehmann following Australia's sole loss to England during the previous summer, when Maxwell threw away his innings in a Carlton Mid Series ODI in Perth with his team still potentially in a winning position.

Lehmann used an impromptu media conference the following day to point out that "our blokes – and Maxwell especially – have got to understand that we've got to play better cricket" and challenged the all-rounder to make sure he stays the course when batting and gets the job done.

As fellow all-rounder James Faulkner had done with the bat in a memorable last-over victory in Brisbane earlier in that ODI series.

Even though Maxwell admits the coach's public criticism stung him sharply and led him to seek counsel from close friends and family, he now rates it as one of the "highlights" of Australia’s historic Ashes summer because of the motivation it provided for him to further improve his game.

"There was a fair few highlights (last summer) and some moments where I had to take a backward step and work on my game." Maxwell said.

"I feel like I've done enough work to change the way I’m playing, and to change my role in that (one-day) team to be successful and to really be the guy that Boof wants me to be in that middle order, and that's to finish the game off for Australia and to be the winner at the end.

"I'm hoping this summer that you see a lot more not outs and a lot more clinical innings instead of cameos which I'm sure people are sick of seeing and which I'm sick of playing.

"It (Lehmann's criticism) shocked me a little bit, but that's the way he’s been going about his coaching since he came into the job.

"Out there, he's been boisterous, he's been brilliant for the group.

"He hasn't left any stone unturned and he's been straight down the line with everyone.

"Everyone knows exactly where they stand with him and I'd rather he be hard on me than sugar coat things and basically give people free rides.

"So the more he nails me when I stuff up, hopefully I can iron out the issues and become a better player.

"I think I'm already starting to become a better player under him and hopefully that shows this summer."