Former Australia captain and current chief selector George Bailey has shared that it’s unfair to say that Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is not a specialist spinner. Australia will begin their 2023 World Cup campaign against the hosts India in Chennai on October 8 as well. While speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Bailey said that Maxwell’s white-ball bowling record is pretty good and it’s unfair to not call him a specialist spinner as he has picked up 64 wickets in 129 ODIs, and 39 wickets in 98 T20Is so far as well.

“I think it’s unfair on Maxwell to say he’s not a specialist spinner. Think his white-ball spinning record is pretty handy and you could very much consider him a frontline option. We certainly consider that we have two frontline spinners within our first-choice XI,” said Bailey.

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However, Bailey said Glenn Maxwell has been consistent across his ODI career and he has good ability in all three departments of the game. Maxwell picked four wickets against India in the third and final ODI in Rajkot to help Australia to a 66-run win as well. He again said that Adam Zampa and Maxwell can do a really good job for Australia as well.

“Glenn’s been so dynamic across his one-day career, not only his ability with bat and ball but just the positions he puts himself in the field. So there’s been a high workload there,” Bailey added. “More broadly across the squad, when you are limited to 15 players, there are compromises that you have to weigh up and which way to want to take a risk. That was all the considerations that we had to take. We certainly think that Zampa and Maxwell can do a really good job for us as the frontline spinners and we’ve still got plenty of options for quicks and back-up all-rounders.”