Glenn Maxwell wants to defy Ponting’s retirement prediction

Glenn Maxwell has left the door open for a final flourish for Australia at the Los Angeles Olympics and the Twenty20 World Cup on home soil in 2028, but admits he has already had frank discussions with selectors about not playing every series before then.

Having already retired from one-day international cricket, Maxwell’s name is set to be missing when Cricket Australia unveils its central contract list later this year, and he is now planning a year mixing franchise T20 gigs with time at home.

But Maxwell has held off making any definitive call on his international future in T20 tournaments so that he may still contend for selection at the big events in 2028, should his form and fitness warrant it. Maxwell turns 40 in October 2028 and Ricky Ponting has predicted he won’t play another World Cup.

“[I’ll be] fit and firing hopefully, but not setting any dates,” Maxwell said of the Olympics and World Cup double. “Not making a decision around my future was probably based more on what’s to come over the next 12 months.

“There’s not a whole lot of T20 cricket planned, so [there is] probably no need to make any formal announcements and [I’ll] see how my body’s going and see how I’m travelling.

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“I felt like I got better and better throughout the World Cup, even the way I judged it on running around the field and how I’m feeling, more than statistics regarding wickets and runs. I felt like I was able to get through games a lot easier, felt like I was playing my role as well as I could, and felt like I still had plenty to offer.”

Head coach Andrew McDonald and selection chair George Bailey were in Melbourne on Wednesday for discussions with CA high-performance chief Ben Oliver, and Maxwell said he had continued open communication with the panel.

“We’ve had some discussions about what the next little bit looks like, and we’ll continue to have really open and fluid discussions going forward,” he said. “If I’m fit and firing and available, I’ll be ready. I’ll be open and fluid with them, and they will be the same with me.”