Stuart Clark: “They’d have to deal with it”
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Former Australia pace bowler Stuart Clark has admitted that he is worried about the relationship between captain Steve Smith and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
Maxwell is the frontrunner to be recalled to the ODI squad for the upcoming series against England after batsman Chris Lynn was ruled out of the series with a calf injury.
Lynn was initially drafted into the side at Maxwell’s expense. During the announcement of the squad, Smith made headlines when he said that Maxwell had to “train a little bit smarter” and cut out all the “funky stuff”.
“I think just looking at the way he trains I think he could train a little bit smarter,” Smith had said. “We’ve all seen the way Glenn can come out and play and do all his funky stuff and be pretty cool with that, but when he puts his head down he’s actually a really good batsman, as we’ve seen in Shield cricket he’s got some big runs there.
“If he keeps his head switched on and trains really well and focuses on basic things more so than the expansive things, then I think that’ll help him have his consistency and if he’s having those consistent performances he’s certainly a person you want in your team.”
While Clark believes that Maxwell is the best candidate to replace Lynn, he conceded that Smith and Maxwell may need to have a mediation session in the presence of head coach Darren Lehmann.
“I think that horse has already bolted,” Clark told Fox Sports News on Tuesday. “They’d deal with it. They’d have to deal with it. Steve Smith’s the captain of Australia, Glenn Maxwell wants to play for Australia.
“Whatever has to happen will have to happen. Darren Lehmann might be the arbitrator there.”
While many former Australian players have criticised Smith for his comments, Clark backed the 28-year-old as he believes the issues Smith touched upon were brought up by the selectors when the ODI team was being put together.
“I’d imagine Steve Smith is only speaking on behalf of the selectors anyway,” he said. “I don’t think he’d be going out on a limb here. There’d be some sort of talk and maybe that information’s already gone back to Glenn Maxwell and it just came out in the public forum as well.”