Having stayed away from the cricket for nearly two months due to mental health issues, Glenn Maxwell returns to the game with the Big Bash League and hope to be back in the Australia team too. He has also made himself available for the IPL and will lead Melbourne Stars in BBL.
“I was pretty cooked when I decided to take the time off. I was pretty mentally and physically ruined from eight months on the road and living out of a suitcase. That had probably been going on for four or five years. It all caught up with me at that time,” he added.
“You go through a lot of waves of emotions and especially that first week was probably the hardest. As I took the time away get myself right and speak to the right people and have that amazing support network behind me was pretty key to me being back to good health now,” he shared.
Glenn Maxwell has stayed away from the limelight playing club cricket with Fitzroy-Doncaster.
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“I’ve had a great couple of weeks, playing club cricket and getting the love back for the game again and really enjoying it,” he said. “It was just getting back in that changeroom environment and having really good close mates around me.”
“Probably not putting too much pressure on myself – I’ve been pretty hard on myself and I’ve been my own hardest critic for a long period of time. That can wear you down – it’s more the stuff you put on yourself, not so much (what one gets) from the outside.,” added the all-rounder.
He has worked with Cricket Australia psychologist Michael Lloyd, whom he is known for more than a decade, and sports psychiatrist Ranjit Menon since he was diagnosed with the problem. He also acknowledged the help he received from Moises Henriques, who played the role of a mentor for him during this period.
“Moises Henriques was someone I confided in. He was my first phone call after everything calmed down,” said Maxwell. “He was brilliant – he’s gone through it as well so for him to give me an idea of what I could expect to see over the next few weeks was outstanding.”
