Glenn Maxwell has moved to set the record straight over comments he made about Australia’s T20 World Cup, saying his words were taken out of context.
Maxwell was quoted as saying Australia’s exit “doesn’t mean anything” because the non-stop cricket schedule meant players would quickly move on.
That was taken by many to mean that Australia’s players felt indifferently about not coming close to defending its T20 World title.
But speaking on the Unplayable Podcast, Maxwell said that assumption is “not true at all”.
“Basically when I looked at that, I went, ‘bugger media, it can go stuff itself’,” Maxwell told the podcast.
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“I sort of said, ‘it doesn’t really matter’, but it was more about it doesn’t matter if you dwell (on the exit) or not, because if you dwell, you’ve already missed a game or two, you’ve missed an opportunity to play well for your country and if you don’t dwell, you’re focusing on the next game.
“So when I say it doesn’t really matter, that’s what I was referring to.
“It’s up to the individual if they wanted to dwell on it, but there’s not enough time to.”
Maxwell said he had been left disillusioned by headlines, and that other players could be discouraged from speaking candidly as a result.
“When I saw the headlines, I was like, ‘well, they’ve just made up a headline to a question that’s completely different’,” he said.
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“A lot of players do that, because when they see headlines that takes something completely out of context, they do get a bit shy and stand-offish, instead of saying exactly what’s on their mind or exactly how they feel.
“I’m not saying for one second that we as an Australian team didn’t care. At no stage was I saying that, but all of a sudden, that’s coming out as a headline. I was like, ‘well, that’s not true at all’.
“We certainly cared and that’s all we cared about at the time. We wanted to win the World Cup.”
Australia didn’t make it out of its group at the World Cup after a heavy defeat in the opening match against New Zealand, and a washout against England.
As it became clear that Australia likely wouldn’t progress, Maxwell said: “You can‘t dwell on it. I think you move on pretty quickly,
“Cricket never stops so you don‘t get time to dwell. Maybe when you retire you think back to it would have been nice to win that but it doesn’t mean anything.
“I wish we had of won but we didn‘t.”
