{"id":633476,"date":"2026-04-27T05:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633476\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T05:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:51:08","slug":"glenn-maxwell-sets-up-playoff-against-steve-smith-after-rapid-half-century-cameron-green-impresses-in-kkr-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633476\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Maxwell sets up playoff against Steve Smith after rapid half-century; Cameron Green impresses in KKR win"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day after Peter Moores reiterated Glenn Maxwell’s<\/a> value to the Melbourne Stars, the Australian all-rounder has exploded back into form to help set up a knockout clash against Steve Smith’s<\/a> Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League.<\/p>\n

Maxwell belted 70 off 37 in a knock including eight boundaries and three sixes.<\/p>\n

His rapid fire half-century helped power Hyderabad Kingsmen to 6\/244. Fellow Australian star Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> scored just five runs.<\/p>\n

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In reply, Rawalpindiz were bowled out for 136 with recently retired Australian top order batter Usman Khawaja<\/a> carrying his bat in a well made 66 off 43. Ex-England international Sam Billings (23) was the only other to reach double figures.<\/p>\n

But it was Maxwell’s half-century that got tails wagging after a hellish 2026, where the Australian star registered his first 50 of the year.<\/p>\n

In fact, it was the first time Maxwell had gone past 50 since his century for Victoria in September.<\/p>\n

Since then, Maxwell’s position in the Australian short format sides has come under huge pressure, especially after averaging just 15.20 in last season’s Big Bash season.<\/p>\n

His lean summer continued in the recent miserable T20 World Cup, with Maxwell failing to set the world alight during Australia’s pool stage exit.<\/p>\n

Maxwell was by no means alone in struggling in the tournament, but his 31 off 32 during Australia’s stunning defeat to Zimbabwe continued the feeling that the shine was beginning to come off the ‘Big Show’. His 22 off 15 in against Sri Lanka one match later only reiterated that feeling.<\/p>\n

But his return to form on Sunday night showed that there could be life yet in the 37-year-old’s career.<\/p>\n

It also came 24 hours after his BBL coach Moores, who previously coached England, went into bat for the under pressure all-rounder.<\/p>\n

“What I love about the whole way ‘Maxi’ plays his cricket is his passion for the game,” he told cricket.com.au.<\/p>\n

“Maxi has epitomised the Stars and the thought of winning it without him in the team would be a real shame, because he’s put so much into it. He’s box office to watch. It wasn’t his tournament this year, but that happens a bit in T20.”<\/p>\n

Maxwell will get the chance to back up his late season surge for the Kingsmen when his side takes on an Aussie-littered Sultans side on Thursday morning AEST.<\/p>\n

The playoff fixture comes after the Sultans were beaten by four wickets and eight balls to spare by Islamabad United, with Sydney Thunder bowling all-rounder Chris Green (five off two) in the middle alongside Mark Chapman (69 off 33) during the win.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Smith, who hit 106 last week, smashed 30 off 19 at the top of the order for the Sultans to continue his strong campaign.<\/p>\n

He was one of five players to get past 20 for the Sultans, but the star-studded side was hurt by the inability of anyone to go on with their knocks.<\/p>\n

Fellow Australians Josh Philippe (11) and captain Ashton Turner (nine) both missed out.<\/p>\n

Green finished with the tidy figures of 1-29 off four overs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cameron Green continued his resurgence for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.<\/p>\n

After the $4 million man came under immense pressure to hold his spot during the halfway point of the season, the 26-year-old hit 34 off 21 and took 1-12 off two overs during KKR’s crazy super over win over Lucknow Super Giants.<\/p>\n

A last ball six from Mohammed Shami sent the IPL match into the first Super Over of the season, but the drama continued as the Super Giants lost two wickets in three balls to leave KKR needing just two runs.<\/p>\n

After Sunil Narine’s incredible over, it took Rinku Singh just one ball to seal the incredible victory as he sliced Prince Yadav to the boundary.<\/p>\n

The victory lifted KKR off the bottom of the standings into eighth place.<\/p>\n

Green’s efforts came 24 hours after Australian captain Pat Cummins took to the field for the first time since the Ashes.<\/p>\n

The fast bowler didn’t miss a beat either, taking 1-27 off his four overs during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals. <\/p>\n

Cummins bowled Royals captain Riyan Parag for five.<\/p>\n

Despite fellow Aussie Travis Head only managing five at the top of the order, Cummins wasn’t needed with the bat, with the Sunrisers bringing up the winning runs with nine balls to spare. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day after Peter Moores reiterated Glenn Maxwell’s value to the Melbourne Stars, the Australian all-rounder has exploded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-633476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}