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It's a ploy Maxwell has used in recent years to improve his defence against spin bowling, explaining that it forces batsmen to rely solely on their bat to survive. "It's probably something we did back in 2012 when 'JL' (Langer) was the batting coach," Maxwell told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday. "We did it a little in the nets when we were in Dubai (for Australia's pre-India tour camp earlier this year). I think the main thing is to basically use your bat: if you don’t have the safety of your front pad there it makes you get your leg out of the way and actually use your bat. "It's more about refining your defence and making sure you're trusting the fact you'll hit the ball and not hoping that your pad's there just to save you.
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"It's more for the (spinners) that are hitting the stumps repeatedly and Bangladesh do that really well. They bowl the ball stump-to-stump and they put pressure on your defence. That’s one thing that we have worked on and will continue to work on. "I've done a fair bit of it, I did a lot of it back home, a lot of my practice revolves around defence and expanding from there. I haven’t done so much of it since I have been here but I am sure I will get a chance before the game starts," he said. Great batsmen like Kevin Pietersen and Micheal Vaughan have tried this particular technique several times in their career and achieved success. The second and final Test begins in Chittagong's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on September 4.
