Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell named former Australian cricketer Brad Hodge an ‘underrated’ cricketer, admitting that he had “posters of him on his wall” growing up and that, had he been born in some other era, he would have played more Test cricket for Australia. Maxwell was speaking on the ‘Keeping it Cricket’ podcast. Hodge, despite being one of the finest red-ball cricketers of his era, could play just six Tests, scoring a double hundred. He could not make it to the team in an era of a stacked line-up featuring Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, etc.
In that era, if you were not averaging 50-plus, it was hard to stay in the side. Had he come a generation or two later, he would have played 120 Test matches, but he was a superstar. In his six Tests for Australia, Hodge made 503 runs in 11 innings at an average of 55.88, including a century and two fifties, with a best score of 203*. In 25 ODIs and 21 innings, he made 575 runs at an average of 30.26, including a century and three fifties. In 15 T20Is and 11 innings, he made 183 runs at an average of 26.14 and a strike rate of 127.08, with a best score of 36. In first-class cricket, Hodge made 17,084 runs in 388 innings across 223 matches at an average of 48.81, including 51 centuries and 64 fifties, with a best score of 302*. In List A cricket, he made 9,127 runs in 251 matches and 241 innings at an average of 43.25, including 29 centuries and 38 fifties, with a best score of 164. In 277 T20s and 261 innings, he scored 7,842 runs at an average of 36.84, with two centuries and 48 fifties and a strike rate of 131.28. He has really impressed me over the last 18 months and in the time I have been playing with him,” he said. He has played 113 T20Is, scoring 2,074 runs in 95 innings at an average of 25.92 and a strike rate of 135.73, including a century and 10 fifties, with a best score of 104*. He has played 94 T20Is for New Zealand, scoring 1,682 runs in 77 innings at an average of 26.69 and a strike rate of 142.42, including a century and nine fifties.
He also said that his teammate for Belfast Wolves in the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), New Zealand batter Mark Chapman, has impressed him. Speaking on the podcast about some of the most ‘underrated’ players, Hodge, a fellow Victorian cricketer, came to Maxwell’s mind, saying, “Hodge was an absolute superstar. I had posters of him up on my wall and was lucky enough to play state cricket with him. To watch him live, it was incredible. He definitely should have played more Test cricket than he did. You could probably argue where he would fit in that world-class lineup. “The guy I have been playing with a little bit recently, I got to sort of see him a bit more up close and how good he is, is Mark Chapman from New Zealand. His ball-striking is really great, for how big he is and how he has not played Tests for New Zealand.
