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We're extremely lucky to have Maxwell in our team, says Marsh

Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 120 off 55 balls, with eight sixes and 12 fours

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Australia's Glenn Maxwell celebrates his century. — AFP

By AP

Published: Sun 11 Feb 2024, 9:31 PM

Captain Mitch Marsh said Australia are fortunate to have a top-class player like Glenn Maxwell after the mercurial batter blasted a record-equalling century as the home team beat West Indies by 34 runs on Sunday and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three-match Twenty20 series.

Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 120 off 55 balls, with eight sixes and 12 fours, and shared a 92-run stand with Tim David (31 off 14 balls) to propel Australia to 241-4 and the highest T20 international score at Adelaide Oval.

“We’re extremely lucky to have (Maxwell) in our team," Marsh said. “He’s a match winner, game changer and people come to watch him."

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The West Indies chase was derailed by the loss of five wickets in the first seven overs, but a rally led by captain Rovman Powell (63 off 36 balls) and Andre Russell (37 off 16 balls) briefly gave the tourists hope of reeling in the mammoth target.

But the weight of the chase ultimately proved too much as Marcus Stoinis (3-36) and debutant Spencer Johnson (2-39) led Australia's bowlers in restricting the West Indies chase to 207-9 in its 20 overs.

“Yeah, I think the boys show courage, you know, that we would just start aggressive but we kept losing wickets," Powell said. “We also need to get big partnerships just as the Aussies did.”

Earlier, Australia slipped to a precarious 64-3 after 6.4 overs after being asked to bat first, with Josh Inglis (four), Marsh (29 off 12 balls) and David Warner (22 off 19 balls) all holing-out playing expansive shots.

Maxwell started slowly with his first four runs coming off five balls, before his innings exploded into life with a rush of boundaries.

He shared an 82-run stand with Stoinis (16 off 15 balls) and then a 92-run partnership with Tim David, which reaped 25 runs from the final over bowled by Russell.

Maxwell's century came off 50 balls and was the fastest hundred in a T20 international in Australia — beating South African Rilee Rossouw's 52-ball effort against Bangladesh during the 2022 World Cup.

It was also Maxwell's fifth T20 international century, equalling the record held by India's Rohit Sharma.

“I feel really comfortable in this format. I think over the last probably 18 months, I’ve felt really good about my batting and really good about my game,” Maxwell said.

Australia beat West Indies by 11 runs in the first match in Hobart on Friday. The third game of the three-match series will be played on Tuesday at Perth.

Australia, which is playing six T20s over the next three weeks, routed West Indies 3-0 in the ODI series.

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AP

Published: Sun 11 Feb 2024, 9:31 PM

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