Glenn Maxwell delivers greatest batting performance ever with no legs, a breakdown
What Happened
Jomboy crossed over from baseball to cricket to break down Glenn Maxwell's double century against Afghanistan at the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Australia was in deep trouble, needing 201 to tie and 203 to win with seven wickets already gone, when Maxwell teamed with bowler Pat Cummins. He survived an early dropped catch and an LBW call that got overturned on review, then started cramping so badly he could barely stand. From roughly 146 onward he batted with almost no use of his legs, flicking and timing boundaries while planted in place, and finished at 201 not out to win the match.
Why This Matters
This was Maxwell's first ODI double century, the first double hundred ever in a World Cup chase, and he did most of it while seizing up with full body cramps. He'd fielded for hours in brutal heat and was already banged up from a golf cart accident that kept him out of the prior match. The mechanics here are unusual for a baseball audience: in cricket you score by running between wickets, so cramping legs should end an innings. Maxwell solved that by refusing to run hard and instead generating power purely through bat speed and timing, parking himself and sending balls to the boundary. Afghanistan held a fielding meeting essentially trying to get a guy who couldn't walk out, and couldn't. Australia rode the win deeper into a tournament they'd go on to win.
At 1.5M views it ranks 171st of 1583 breakdowns, top 10.8% of the catalog and proof a cricket video can hang with Jomboy's baseball hits.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Glenn Maxwell.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe Cricket World Cup is going on, and Glenn Maxwell from Australia set a ton of records
in his historic innings that happened in crazy, dramatic fashion.
This breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings.
A lot of people reached out as soon as this happened and requested me to do a video on
this, and I appreciate that very much.
I never thought I'd be getting instant cricket requests to do videos, but it's awesome, so
I appreciate it.
Here's the scene.
I'll set it for you.
Australia was down bad.
They needed 201 runs to tie the match, 203 to win it, and they had seven outs already.
At this point, Cummins comes in.
He's a bowler.
He's got no runs, hasn't faced a ball yet, and Max, he's at 22 off of 26, and things
started to look pretty scary because he floats that one up.
Afghanistan going to make the catch.
A little bit of a slight miscommunication at the start because the fielder thought Khan
was going to get it.
Ooh, hide your face.
That's upsetting, and then the umpire actually calls him out on that ball.
LBW says, yep, that was going to hit the stumps.
Ah, wait a second.
Wait a second.
Let's review it.
Max, he's walking off.
He thinks his day is done, but nope, turn around.
It was going to go over the stumps.
You're still in there.
Umpire got it wrong, according to the review, and then he floats this one right.
Oh, no.
He puts it down, and Max, he's got a cute little smile, and I think at this point,
he said, all right, screw it.
Let's just go big.
He's at 29 runs off 37.
He says, bam, sweep.
Go that way.
I'll go this way.
I'll go that way.
I'll go that way.
I'll go this way.
I'll go this way.
He's hard to bowl to because he's going to step forward, and he's going to take charge
of the ball.
That is crazy, and now Afghanistan fans are like, oh, shit.
Wish you would have caught those balls.
Damn.
This is looking not good.
But he's cramping up, so Doc's going to put an elbow in his butt,
then put it down.
He's going to place his thumb in that dent, then the other elbow in that same, and then
robot loosen his leg up.
That's doctoring.
Elbow to thumb to elbow, and then wiggle the leg.
He's cramping up.
He had a field for like four hours before this.
Now he's hitting.
Takes some pills.
Didn't play the match before because he got in a golf cart accident, so it's hot as hell.
He's cramping up.
Goes back out there.
Says, I'm fine.
Doc did the elbow, thumb, elbow thing, and look at that gorgeous shot.
That's sick.
Dicks.
And he's just going big.
That kid catches the ball.
This guy comes up, says, don't celebrate that.
Throw it back.
In cricket, they have to throw it back.
They have to use the ball, but he's still excited.
That kid didn't care.
Oh, he touches that, and now he's starting to cramp a little bit.
Uh-oh.
The elbow, thumb, elbow is wearing off.
He's running across to the other side to grab his run, and it's starting to hurt.
And then he took a swing there, and he's like, I got to run again.
And, uh, not feeling good on the ground.
He's just going to stretch it out himself, do a little yoga.
Helmet's off because the bowler throws slow, and he's back to bashing boundaries.
Using his legs.
Ooh!
I don't know if he can use his legs anymore.
This was the last time he really tried to use his legs.
Look at that.
Steps forward.
The leg cramps, and then a little bit of the leg there runs.
Cummins is like, oh, you did good, dude.
Oh, wobbling across like a stiff-backed grandpa.
Oh, no.
Using the bat as a cane.
And just trying to stretch it out.
And he realizes, hey, I think my legs are done.
He's got to go Lieutenant Dan the rest of the way.
Just arms, and look what he does.
He just flicks that for four.
Cummins laughs.
He's like, holy smokes, man.
What are you doing?
And that one he sends straight on.
Right back where it came from for four.
Yep.
That fan doesn't even know what he's about to see.
Look at the replay of this one.
Does not use his legs at all.
Just stands there, and it's all timing and arm speed.
Look at the difference.
On the left, you have how he walks.
He wants to hit this ball.
He wants to step forward.
He wants to attack it, drive it.
And on the right, he didn't do any of that.
Because he got hurt on the left.
So he had to stop doing it.
So he's got to go no legs the rest of the way.
And he's trying to move still.
He still is like, all right, I can get across the field to the other side.
Oh, scampering, scampering.
Like walking through your house with the lights off.
You don't know if you're going to bump into anything.
He's hurting pretty bad.
Helmets off again.
And going to go for a run.
Cummins is like, dude.
You don't.
Okay, if you want to.
Wobbling, wobbling, wobbling.
Gets back just in the nick of time.
Oh, my goodness.
Cramp attack.
Go still.
Lay down.
Oh, like a tremor inside his body.
Oh, no.
Not good.
Cramp attack.
He's laying down like he just got attacked.
Doc comes out.
This is going to need much more than the elbow, thumb, elbow.
He's like, what leg is it?
And he's like, I don't know.
Both of them.
Zampa comes down because he would hit next.
They need 56 runs from the next 59.
Balls.
Glenn Maxwell is at 146.
He turned it on so much.
He says, hey, I can stretch.
Get back up those stairs, Zampa.
Don't need you.
He says, all right.
Fine.
These guys, Afghanistan, have a team meeting.
Like, he's by.
He can't move, guys.
Guys, this guy can't walk.
He can't even stand.
Can we just get him out?
Shouldn't even take strategy.
Just get him out.
He says, oh.
Going to take a lot of strategy.
Because, look at that one.
Oh.
Cummins is laughing at him.
All the boys up in the.
He's like, I just wanted to.
I just wanted to flick it.
I just wanted to flick it a little bit.
Missed it.
Reverse sweep.
Gets him.
He's still.
He's still hitting them with different shots.
Now, on the left, reverse sweep with legs.
Pretty powerful.
On the right, reverse sweep without.
On the left, now he's stepping forward, moving.
The other one, Lieutenant Dan, no legs.
Just kind of standing there.
Just propped up.
Come on.
Come on.
Getting exciting.
They need 43 runs off 40 balls.
And he goes reverse sweep again.
And throws.
Throws it for six.
And now, Afghanistan's like, what the fuck is this?
Look how cool this is.
Spins the bat as the ball's coming.
And then, just flicks it like a fly that got too close to his face.
It is very impressive.
Because, prior to being legless, all of his boundaries, the blue balls, came from balls way out in front.
And any ball that he had to let travel deep, he didn't get a boundary on.
He didn't get a four or a six.
But he can't stretch.
And he can't move his body to get in the position that he was doing.
He can't move his body to get in the position that he was doing before he went legless.
So, now, he's changing his entire style.
Letting the ball come to him.
Just using timing and torque and hands.
And still getting the job done.
It's crazy impressive.
Baseball fans, it's like if Kurt Gibson came out and hit, you know, like four home runs.
Instead of just the one.
Look at that.
Just stiff, man.
Mr. Roboto.
But at this point, look at this smile.
He kind of goes, hmm.
Okay.
That feels a little better.
And then, he's going to go for a run.
At the end of the over here.
So, he can remain on strike.
And look at the fist pump.
Yeah!
He's like, I'm back up.
Cummins doesn't have to hit.
And the guys up top love that.
Because they're like, shit.
He must feel good.
Oh, yeah.
I think the leg is starting to do better.
The pickle juice is working.
The cramps are going away.
It's still hilarious how he's doing it.
I mean, it's just kind of.
This guy's just nodding.
He's like, oh, okay.
I don't know what to do here.
That's kind of nuts.
They need 25 runs off the next 30 balls.
He's yelling.
He's yelling at Cummins.
He's like, come on.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Waddles across.
Gets his run.
Having some fun.
He's like, yep.
I'm feeling better.
Now, this is Cummins batting.
And an important part to note about this is Cummins is his partner up there.
But he's a bowler first.
He can whack it around a bit.
All he's trying to do is not get out and get Maxwell back on.
So, all he's trying to do is survive.
And look at that.
Just blocks that one.
Kahn tries to kick it.
It gets past him.
And Max, he's like, let's go.
I'm up.
We get a run.
And I'm up.
I'm feeling better.
I'm going to end this thing.
This is the final over.
The first ball goes for a big smash.
Kind of misses it.
But looks at Cummins afterwards.
And he's like, hey, don't worry.
I got this.
I feel pretty good.
And I saw the ball well.
So, look.
He got a dot ball.
The first ball of the over.
The next one.
Boom.
And you see him using his legs a little now?
Watch him step into this.
Oh, yeah.
Thank you, Pickle Juice.
That's six.
How about it?
They're scared.
They're like, oh, this sucks.
We're going to lose.
And it's going to be historic.
That is no leg movement at all.
Still six.
Now he needs nine runs from the next 21 balls.
Basically, they're going to win the game now.
And he says, yep.
And I'm going to win it now.
They go outside.
He goes over there.
What's that?
Deep cover, cricket fans?
Let me know.
Because there's a lot of positions.
I'm still learning those.
It's kind of hard.
Cummins is clapping.
And then the last ball.
He's like, here's six to give me 201 runs to give the team enough runs to win.
They're going nuts.
It's one of the greatest.
I mean, it's one of the greatest single performances in cricket history.
Afghanistan can't believe it.
Dude went headless.
Cummins is like, are you not entertained?
Are you not entertained?
Look what I did.
Warner got 18.
Head got zero.
Marsh, 24.
Martin is 14.
Zero.
201.
No one else on his team got more than 24 runs.
He got 201 of the 293.
And also, look at Pat Cummins.
12 runs, but he saw 68 balls.
He can't.
Kept it alive.
He kept it going.
Very, very cool.
I like it.
It's, you know, because it's similar physicality to baseball.
But it's kind of like, what if Kurt Gibson had to hit forever?
You know, the home run derby guys get exhausted.
They're doing that in the heat for two hours straight after standing in the field for four hours.
Nuts.
Very cool.
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It was a ton of footage.
It took absolutely forever, but I enjoyed it, and I hope you guys enjoy it as well.
And good job, Maxi.
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Goodbye.