Australian cricket star Glenn Maxwell has given an insight into the team’s celebrations post the ICC T20 World Cup title triumph in Dubai recently, saying that the players chilled out by the pool, played golf and “had a few team drinks” to celebrated their victory over New Zealand in the final.
The Aaron Finch-led Australian team chased down the Black Caps’ stiff 172-run target, completing the task for the loss of two wickets and with seven deliveries to spare. David Warner (53), Mitchell Marsh (77 not out) and Maxwell (28 not out) were the architects of the run-chase and the cricketer said that the players had a great time over the next few days.
While some Australian players boarded a chartered flight back along with England cricketers for the Ashes series, several members who were not part of the Test squad, stayed back a couple of days more in the UAE to savour the maiden T20 title triumph.
“We had a great time over the next few days. We were fortunate we didn’t have to get on the charter in the morning with the Test guys and we had an extra day to chill out by the pool and wear our medals. We had a great time. To be able to wind down with a few of the guys and the public over there was awesome,” Maxwell told Kayo’s new Summer Rundown podcast on Saturday.
“We finished our golf day, had a few team drinks,” added Maxwell.
Recalling the scene when he hit the winning runs, Maxwell said that he got a bit worried when he saw team-mates Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis rushing on to the field in jubilation even while the his shot was racing to the boundary.
“I’m willing it over the boundary line and all I can see as the ball’s rolling is Zampa and Stoinis overtaking the ball as they’re running past and it was only half way out of the circle. It was an amazing feeling. To get Mitch Marsh jumping in to you and crushing your bones was a nice one. The celebrations were pretty awesome,” said Maxwell.
The players kept the party going inside the team bus as well as they enjoyed a few drinks, following which the cricketers started “banging the roof”.
“On the team bus, the boys were up and about, had a few cocktails in us, having a good day. We knew we had a long break in between games and all of a sudden it just turned in to a party bus, Freed from Desire, blokes are banging the roof. It was carnage. Every win we had from there on in it came out, it became a theme song. I suppose the vibe was so good in the change rooms it just carried us on. No one batted an eyelid and that’s the way we went about it.”
Maxwell recalled that he mistakenly brought the World Cup trophy to his residence in Melbourne, where it sat on the dining room table for a few days.
“I actually brought the World Cup back from the World Cup. I’m not sure if it was a mistake or a logistical error, but I had the World Cup sitting on my dining table for about a day or two. And I got a phone call from Finchy (captain Aaron Finch). He goes, ‘You still got it?’, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll drop it around’. He was like, ‘I’ve got to do a photo shoot with it, perfect good timing!'”
