Maxwell determined his blitz won’t be a sideshow

COLOMBO: Glenn Maxwell is hoping his brilliant unbeaten 145 in the first Twenty20 against Sri Lanka on Tuesday will put him back on track to represent Australia in the longer formats of the game.

The 65-ball knock, featuring 14 fours and nine sixes, was the second highest in international T20s and drove Australia to a world record tally as well as a comfortable 85-run victory.

The tourists’ 263-3 bettered the 260-6 that Sri Lanka racked up against Kenya at the 2007 World Twenty20 and matched the format record of 263-5 that Royal Challengers managed against the Puna Warriors in the 2013 IPL.

Maxwell’s biggest international score was all the sweeter as it came after he was dropped for the longer format matches in Sri Lanka and left out of the squad for an upcoming one-day series in South Africa.

“I’ve been out of the one-day team for a while now, so to get my first crack back in the main team and to do as well as I did today was brilliant,” he told reporters in Pallekele.

“I had doubted a fair bit about my ability at this level and to come out and strike the ball like I did today was really pleasing.”

Burdened with the unwanted nickname “The Big Show” in 2013, Maxwell has had to battle perceptions about his enigmatic talent ever since.

No-one doubts his ability as a fast-scoring batsman who can bowl useful offspin but the reverse sweeps, pulls and paddle shots have laid him open to accusations of being, in his own words, an “egocentric show off”.

On Tuesday, he opened for the first time in the shortest form of the international game and revelled in the liberation from the responsibility of his usual middle order role.

“When you’re in the middle order you have to be proactive the whole time and it seems that if you get out playing a big shot at that stage of the game, it all falls on your shoulders,” he added.

“At the top of the order you’ve got a bit more freedom to get yourself into the game and just play pretty normal cricket shots without taking too many risks.”