Glenn Maxwell was one of those players who spoke about mental illness openly and took a break as well last year. However, mental exhaustion affected him that much that the Australian all-rounder had a poor show in the 2019 World Cup. He took the break from international cricket last October but returned with BBL season and also led Melbourne Stars as well.
“I knew he (Marsh) was in trouble when he came in, and immediately I felt bad for him. I just thought I hope he’s OK, and if anything, I wish we could swap our news (suspecting Marsh” arm was broken),” Maxwell said in the Ordineroli Speaking podcast with Neroli Meadows.
“We went to the hospital together and we were both sitting there, I think both hoping for opposite news. When I got hit, I was angry and a part of me was hoping (my arm) was broken. I was like ‘this is it, I just need a break’… I was thinking about things I could do on the way back to snap it. I had anger at other people and it didn’t make sense, but I was angry at myself for not being able to produce at all this World Cup,” he shared.
“I thought it would’ve been an easy escape because I felt like I was going to get dropped at some stage and I thought maybe this is the way,” he told.
Glenn Maxwell was playing a Twenty20 series in October against Sri Lanka and he felt that he wasn’t enjoying the game.
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“I batted so well, I got 60-odd off less than 30 (balls) and barely missed the middle…but didn’t really enjoy any of it,” he said. “You’re taking down an international attack and just not enjoying any bit of it.”
“I was about to announce it to the group, they had no idea what was going on, I didn’t even tell (Aaron) Finchy. I didn’t want them to be distracted by what was going on with me. I went over to him (Finch) and said ‘I’m done, I’m going to have a bit of time off’, and he said he noticed something was up. Once I told him, he was like, ‘brave decision, well done’,” Maxwell added.
“Once everyone left, I broke down into tears, it was more…that was the first time I showed any emotion…since the World Cup,” he said.
However, he got the support from all of his teammates and but he said that the first few days were hard of his break.
“Those next two or three days were probably the worst I’d had in the next six months,” Glenn Maxwell said. “As much as support was great, it was also so confronting…I wanted to go further into my little hole and not come out. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down, I felt like I was taking an easy-out, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
