Glenn Maxwell retires after six defining innings for Australia
Glenn Maxwell, the 38-year-old all-rounder, has bowed out of international cricket as of November 2026, leaving behind a sequence of explosive innings across formats that shaped his Australia career.
Maxwell’s departure came after he was overlooked for Australia’s T20 squad to face England this month before bringing the curtain down on his international career; he finishes as a three-time World Cup winner whose legacy, the article says, is shadowed by an unshakeable feeling that he remained an unfulfilled talent. Nicknamed the Big Show, Maxwell compiled a catalogue of unconventional, destructive strokes and staged multiple match-changing performances on the sport’s biggest stages. The following six knocks are presented as highlights that defined his impact for Australia.
In the 2023 ODI World Cup match against Afghanistan, Australia were 91 for 7 chasing 292 in a must-win game when Maxwell and captain Pat Cummins combined to rescue the chase; Maxwell finished unbeaten on 201 not out from 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes. During that innings Maxwell suffered cramps that left him barely able to walk and collapsed to the turf with 10 overs still remaining, requiring fluids and prolonged treatment to continue batting. His unbeaten double-century lifted Australia into the semi-finals and moved the side closer to their eventual World Cup triumph.
At the 2023 World Cup in New Delhi, Maxwell produced a 40-ball century that the article describes as the quickest at a men’s Cricket World Cup and the fastest for an Australian in all ODIs. He did not face a ball until midway through the 41st over but raced to an unbeaten 75 by the end of the 48th, then struck 4, 4, 6, 6 off the first four balls of a Bas de Leede over and completed the century with a hook over fine leg from a no-ball full toss.
Maxwell’s T20 credentials include an opening role for the first time in September 2016 in Pallekele against Sri Lanka, where he produced a 65-ball mauling that began with a reverse sweep for the first six of the match; he reached a half-century in 27 balls and then converted his maiden T20I hundred with only 22 further deliveries. The innings finished unbeaten on 145 as Australia posted 263 for 3, a total the article says surpassed Sri Lanka’s record score in a T20I amassed against Kenya and equalled the then highest total in the format. Early the following year at Adelaide Oval against the West Indies he again accelerated, reaching a half-century from 25 balls, bringing up a ton from 50 deliveries and finishing unbeaten on 120 off 55 balls with eight sixes; that was cited as his fifth T20I century, a mark he shares with Rohit Sharma and his final century for Australia.
In red-ball and one-day international tests of temperament, Maxwell’s lone Test century came in Ranchi in 2017 when he scored 104 from 185 balls after waiting until the 56th delivery he faced to hit his first boundary; he played only three more Tests after that innings. At the SCG in 2015 he produced a 51-ball century against Sri Lanka — the quickest by an Australian in men’s ODIs and the second-fastest in World Cup history — finishing that match with 102, including 10 boundaries and four sixes, in a must-win match for Australia.
Maxwell’s international résumé also includes being part of the XI that went on to lift the World Cup he competed in at the SCG, and later hitting the winning runs in both the 2021 T20 World Cup and the 2023 Cricket World Cup. His 201 not out in 2023 directly advanced Australia into the World Cup semi-finals, a contribution the article identifies as central to Australia’s route to that tournament title.