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There are somethings that only the Australian cricketers can do. For instance, snubbing the best of world's batters including Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anwar which was the case when Shane Warne came out to bowl. On other occasions, talents like Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee made constant lightwork of some of the most organised and flourishing batting line-ups.
And then, there's been no dearth of batting mastery where it comes to some noted Australian batters, including Sir Don Bradman, whose 6996 Test runs at an average of 99 may still emerge as a record that will never be broken. Likewise for Matthew Hayden's triple century, which at one point, bettered Lara's 375.
But then there were only a few like Glenn Maxwell, who most recently on June 2, 2025, announced his one day retirement from the game, that could convert a lost cause into a glowing, winning one and give statisticians and number cruncher with quite some work to do.
Maxwell wasn't called the Big Show for nothing; he could convert modest totals into mighty ones putting breathtaking hitting onto the forefront of several savage outings in the middle. As the great white-ball batter for Australia calls.
Magnificence in Manchester, 2020
In one of the finest and most profound one day international knocks that came during the COVID era, Circa 2020, the Aussies locked horns with the English back in the day. The ODI series produced a gaggle of runs and sublime entertainment.
But in the end, it was the decisive innings of Maxwell in the series-deciding third and final fifty-over contest that swung the things into Australia's favour.
Set a daunting 303 to chase down with English batters including Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings and Chris Woakes make a tonnage of runs, it came down to Maxwell's late innings charge during Australia's memorable run chase that took the visitors home.
He took just 90 deliveries, to be precise, to score a match-winning 108, supported brilliantly by a rising Alex Carey, the left-hander also striking a timely century.
In the end, Maxwell's precise and targeted hitting against the likes of Adil Rashid and Tom Curran and company took his team home. What's rather extraordinary about his effort was that he arrived into the middle and scored a ton at number seven - Warner, Finch, Labuschagne all having batted ahead of him as per normal.
Blitzkrieg vs India in 2013
Most of us would - and it's hardly a fault of anyone - remember the India versus Australia One-Day international held in Bengaluru way back in 2013 as being of the most potent examples of Rohit Sharma's belligerence.
The former Test and T20I captain of India scored a hostile double century that came down as a form of lashing for the unsuspecting Australian bowlers. The likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Faulkner were left listless in front of the Hitman's 209 that came off merely 158 odd deliveries.
But in reply, chasing 383, if Australia came any closer to India's daunting ask, then it was also thanks to Glenn Maxwell playing a blinder.
He took just 22 deliveries to score a magnificent 60, featuring 7 sixes and scored that vital knock at a berserk strike rate north of 270.
Interestingly, this game also featured the late and much loved cricketer, Phil Hughes but Maxwell's assault over Dhoni's team sent shivers down the Bangalore crowd.
The forgotten gem from 2015 ODI World Cup
In the much-anticipated 2015 Men's ODI World Cup contest against the challenging Sri Lankan side, who still had a Kumar Sangakkara in their ranks, the Aussies fielded a powerful side.
But its power also came from the fact that Glenn Maxwell's mighty bat featured in the line-up.
Helping his team to post a gargantuan first inning score of 376 for the loss of 9 wickets, Glenn Maxwell waged an assault over the Sri Lanka side, who were left clueless and hapless in front of his brilliant 103 that came off just 52 deliveries.
Think of it; you stay at the wicket for just 8.4 overs, to be precise, and end up reaching a World Cup three-figure mark.
At times, Maxwell could do things that only a few others in the game could and this sterling World Cup ton was pure indication of that.
The record-breaking score in ODI's, the greatest knock by an Aussie
For times to come, Glenn Maxwell's nerve-wracking, thrilling and edge-of-the-seat double century, the first by an Australian in a World Cup contest to be ever held in India, will be recounted among the finest ever knocks in the pinnacle of World Cup contest for fifty over cricket.
Coming into bat with Australia already down and out, Maxwell's team slipped from 5 for 69 to being 6 down for 87 whilst chasing a mighty 292 against Afghanistan.
But Maxwell, then not even at his fittest and constantly battling cramps in the leg region, batted, batted and beat the pulp out of the Afghanistan bowlers on his way to a rampaging and emotionally exhausting 201 that came off just 128 odd deliveries.
The kind of knock that would have certainly made even the likes of AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle sport the biggest of smiles, Maxwell scored that knock at a strike rate of 181, hitting 21 fours and 10 insane sixes.
Heroics in the 2015 quarter-final win vs Pakistan
On March 20, 2015, the Australian cricket team played what could arguably be considered one of their most interesting and closely-followed one day contests against the Pakistani side, especially in a World Cup.
The game is still remembered, even after a decade from its occurrence, as the contest that unfurled perhaps one of the finest and most hostile bowling spell ever delivered by a Pakistani talent against an Australian.
And truth be told, it won't change for times to come.
The bowling spell delivered by Wahab Riaz, back in those days the fastest and most accurate of all Pakistani bowlers, to Shane Watson, will go down in history as a titanic duel. The contest was eventually won by the mighty Australian side that back in those days has the temerity of Michael Clarke and the wizardry of Steve Smith.
But one man played his part as well, his contributions having gone a touch unnoticed.
That man was Glenn Maxwell, whose timely and heroic 44 unbeaten runs that came off just 29 deliveries played the part of the perfect foil for Watson's focused and watchful match winning fifty.
