Maxwell receives second T20 award

Glenn Maxwell has won his second T20 International Player of the Year Award at Monday's Australian Cricket Awards.

Maxwell, who previously won the award in 2015, becomes the third multiple winner as Australian cricket's top men's T20 player after Shane Watson (2012, 2013 and 2017) and Aaron Finch (2014, 2018).

Maxwell polled 33 votes to narrowly win ahead of D'Arcy Short (30 votes) and AJ Tye (29 votes). Also polling in the voting period (9 January 2018 – 7 January 2019) were Aaron Finch (19) and Billy Stanlake (18).

Maxwell played all 19 T20 games for Australia, scoring 506 runs at 36.14 with a strike rate of 143.75. That runs total was the third most for Australia in the period, behind Finch's 531 that was bolstered by his record-breaking 172 against Zimbabwe, and Short's 515.

Maxwell was also Australia's equal third-most prolific wicket-taker in the format with nine scalps despite being used for just 17 overs and conceding a respectable 7.59 runs per over.

Tye lead the wickets column with 31 scalps, while Stanlake had 25 from 16 matches.

Maxwell's most memorable performance was the unbeaten 103 he struck against England in Hobart last February when he brought up the milestone, and the victory, with a six.

He also took 3-10 in that same match, his best single-match bowling return of the voting period. It was also the only player of the match award he won in the period, while Finch and Stanlake won two each.

Memories of that match will no doubt boost Maxwell, captain of the Melbourne Stars, as he prepares for the club's KFC BBL semi-final against the Hobart Hurricanes back at Blundstone Arena on Thursday night.

Domestic performances don't count for this award, but Maxwell was at his imperious best in T20 cricket for the Stars on Sunday night, blasting 82 that included an incredible late-innings onslaught before taking a wicket and a ripper slips catch that pushed his club into the semi-finals.

Australia won 10 of their 19 T20s, starting the voting period for this award strongly with a tri-series victory against New Zealand and England under David Warner's captaincy.

They lost to England in a one-off match in Birmingham last winter and had mixed results in a tri-series with Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Harare immediately after.

Three defeats to Pakistan followed after the Tests against the same nation in late October and reverses against South Africa and India on home soil left Australia with one win from their past seven T20s.

During this period Maxwell was a consistent performer and was dismissed for single-digit scores just three times.

Maxwell hit 46 from 24 balls in that one victory, against India in Brisbane, with four towering sixes, but was overlooked for the official player of the match award in favour of Adam Zampa's 2-22 in a tense four-run win.

The T20 prize will be some consolation for Maxwell after a difficult 12 months for him personally, where he was a surprise omission from the Test team that faced Pakistan, having also been left out of the Australia A tour that preceded it, where Marnus Labuschagne's performances helped push him into Baggy Green.

Maxwell also played just seven of Australia's 13 ODIs in the awards voting period, four of the five home ODIs against England in early 2018 as well as two further ODIs on the winter tour of the UK after injuring himself putting his body on the line in the field with his usual vigour.