Glenn Maxwell has admitted selectors made the right call to leave him out of the Test squad for Sri Lanka, but his stunning innings in the BBL on Sunday night was still a brutal statement in response. Maxwell blasted 90 from just 52 balls to lead the Melbourne Stars over cross-town rivals the Renegades, keeping their slim finals hopes alive with a 42-run victory.

With the Stars reeling at 7-75, Maxwell scored all 81 runs in an eighth-wicket partnership with tail-ender Usama Mir, who made a five-ball duck. It got his team to a competitive total of 165 after it looked like they’d be bowled out for under 100.

And the innings proved pivotal as the Renegades only made 123 in response. Maxwell has now made 58 not out (from 32 balls) and 90 from 52 since finding out he’d missed out on selection in the Test squad to tour Sri Lanka.

The 36-year-old was an outside chance for selection given his all-round abilities bowling off-spin, but selectors went with some younger players after Australia qualified for the World Test Championship Final in June – rendering the Sri Lanka Tests almost meaningless. Stand-in captain Steve Smith admitted last week he pushed for 21-year-old Cooper Connolly’s inclusion – which effectively ended the Test careers of veteran all-rounders Maxwell and Mitch Marsh (33).

“I had a little chat to Ron (coach Andrew McDonald) and Dodders (selector Tony Dodemaide) in here after the game (fifth Test against India),” Smith said on Friday at the SCG ahead of his BBL return for the Sixers. “I was quite big on someone like Cooper coming in, to be able to spin the ball the other way.

“You watch India – they have Axar (Patel) and Ravindra Jadeja – when a spinner gets tired or nothing’s happening they can turn to another spinner. I like the fit, having a couple of spinners going each way, it matches up really nicely. He’s a talented young kid and every opportunity he’s got he’s done really well.”

Glenn Maxwell responds to omission from Test team

All Maxwell has done since being snubbed is score runs and send a message to those who doubt him. Although he admitted on Sunday night after his heroic innings that Test selectors probably made the right call.

“It’s just selection,” Maxwell said. “There’s always going to be people wanting to be there and I made no secret that I desperately wanted to be on that tour, but I can completely understand their reasoning.

“The fact that they’re already in the World Test Championship final, they’ve got a couple of Tests in Sri Lanka and there’s going to be some sub-continent tours over the next few years, so they get to look a few new guys in those conditions. What an experience for those guys to go over there – Cooper Connolly on his first Test tour – I certainly would’ve made the same decision as they have.”

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Was Glenn Maxwell robbed of chance to score century?

His innings wasn’t without controversy on Sunday night, with Renegades captain Will Sutherland bowling back-to-back balls that many thought were illegal deliveries. Both balls appeared to be above waist-height, meaning Maxwell should have been given free-hits on back-to-back deliveries.

Considering he only fell 10 runs short of a century, the free-hits could have given Maxwell an extra 12 runs maximum. But the umpires failed to call them no-balls, leaving Victorian great Darren Berry exasperated.

“What an absolute joke those two full tosses Maxi launched into space were not called no balls above waist height,” Berry wrote on social media. “They were shoulder height. You just just can’t have umpires with such lack of clue at this level, it’s seriously embarrassing.”