GLENN Maxwell believes only something out of the blue will see him called up for Australia against England in the Ashes this winter.
The Surrey star signed off after Monday night's eight-wicket defeat to Essex at the Oval but he is now looking forward to watching the national side try to reclaim the urn in England.
And reflecting on England's victory in the first Test match last week, Maxwell isn't holding too much hope of receiving a call just yet and spoke about training with teenage star Ashton Agar.
"I think I need the side to get some disease [for me] to get some sort of call-up," he said.
"I'm only a spectator at the moment and it's nice to watch. From everyone's perspective it was a good Test last week.
"Obviously, the result went England's way but Australia probably deserved to win.
"I used to train with Ashton in the academy in Victoria but then he moved states because he wasn't getting any games in our second XI.
"He went to play for Western Australia and a few months later he's playing for Australia."
Monday's game was Maxwell's last for Surrey before he heads off to Zimbabwe on tour with Australia A and he truly savoured the last time he'll ever share the batting stage with the legendary Ricky Ponting.
"Unfortunately, the last time we batted, we lasted around three balls together," he said.
"It was nice to spend a bit more time with him this time and we put on 40 through the middle.
"That was the last time I'm ever going to get to play with him so to go out and have a hit with him was pretty awesome.
"I'm heading off to Zimbabwe now with Australia A. We've got a game starting Thursday for three-day cricket, so I'm looking forward to playing some red-ball.
"I haven't played red-ball since the Test series in India, which was a pretty upsetting time, so I'm looking forward to pushing my name towards a Test series for Australia for the Ashes – there's a lot of cricket coming up.
"I wish all the boys (at Surrey) the best in the last four games.
"They've got an extremely talented squad for sure. It's amazing they haven't even reached their potential and to still be four and two after six games is a great effort."
And the 24-year-old felt Surrey needed another 15-20 runs against Essex, while he admitted it took him some time to get going at in the bat.
"The last few games we've defended 150 here and we had done it pretty well, but fortunately we weren't able to contain Essex's bowling at the start," said Maxwell.
"Looking back on it, we were probably 15-20 runs short as well. It's a funny game because if you get a few wickets early you can say we'd probably have enough but they batted well, Essex.
"They just took us on and I think when Jason Roy went out that sort of stalled our momentum because it meant I had to take my time to get in with Ricky.
"We've now got Hampshire this Friday. They're extremely skilled in this competition and they've been very successful over the last few years.
"They will be a tough opponent but hopefully we can get something and give them payback for the last game."
