THE fielding brilliance of young all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was enough to win a place in Victoria's team for its opening Champions League game against hosts Eastern Cape Warriors.
The 21-year-old off-spinning all-rounder has just one domestic one-day and one home Twenty20 innings that returned 10 runs form seven balls.
But the Bushrangers' heriachy were very comfortable with the choice of him stepping out ahead of some bigger names for the hostilities that were due to start in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday), Melbourne time.
An emerging batsman with a bag of new-age ''tricks'' while at the crease, he is the proverbial jet in the field - a skill area that has won him a star of a couple of Test caps Peter Siddle and Bryce McGain, as well as rising star Jame Pattinson.
''A player like that if selected, the expectation is he's going to save you 10 to 15 runs across the course of an innings, take a catch and perhaps get a run-out,'' coach Greg Shipperd said.
''And he's got some tricks with the bat - we haven't seen all of them yet - he still working his game out. But he's a young, emerging player who we're keen on promoting.''
Maxwell himself didn't really expect a start in the team's series opener, but intends to grab the chance with both hands.
"I'm still finding my feet in the other forms of the game but it's a good place to start, in the Twenty20 set-up where you are a specialist fielder and you can bowl a bit and bat in the middle order," Maxwell said, adding his immediate goal is to cement a place in the powerful Bushrangers T20 side.
"Definitely - a consistent spot in the Twenty20 and one-day teams. If I can get a first-class debut that'd be an absolute dream for me, but I still think that's a fair way off. I've got a lot of training to do and have to adapt my game to suit the Victorian standards."
First class cricket for Maxwell is certainly on other people radar.
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