Australia star Glenn Maxwell will miss the crucial Cricket World Cup clash against England due to bizarre circumstances, having fallen off a golf buggy.
During a scheduled day off, a number of the Australian team played an internal golf tournament but on the way back from the clubhouse to the team bus, Maxwell lost his grip while holding on to the back of the cart.
He suffered a head injury during the fall and has now entered concussion protocols for the next six to eight days, meaning he will miss the game against fierce rivals England on Saturday.
“The guys were ferried off on carts,” explained Australia head coach Andrew McDonald. “Glenn and a few other players jumped on the back of carts and unfortunately he lost his grip on the way back to the team bus and sustained that injury. Over the last couple of days he’s been assessed.
“He’s been honest with the information he’s provided. He’s doing fine. He’ll start some light exercises today and we feel as though it will be a reasonably straightforward return-to-play protocol. I suppose the fortunate part was there was no other injury sustained which could have been a lot worse than it currently is.
“I think it rattled everyone to be fair once it came to the conclusion there was a concussion and he was going to miss a game. There was nothing untoward in the behaviour throughout the day: it was a clear-cut accident and unfortunately it’s compromised what we are doing as a team.”
Australia are currently in a good position to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals, sitting fourth in the group (with the top four going through) after bouncing back from two losses to begin the tournament by winning four games on the spin.
But losing Maxwell is a huge blow, with the all-rounder in blistering form after thumping a record 40-ball century against Netherlands and providing a crucial second spin option to Adam Zampa. Travis Head will now take on a supporting role with the ball, while the returning Marcus Stoinis or Cameron Green will likely come into the middle order for Maxwell and Marnus Labuschagne will retain his place.
Maxwell celebrated the fastest-ever World Cup century, off just 40 balls, against the Netherlands— (Getty Images)
“There’ll be a small reshuffle, clearly, around the back end of our batting and no doubt that compromises a bit of our bowling and the way Glenn has performed with the ball,” McDonald added.
“There’s no doubt it leaves us a fraction exposed at the back end in terms of how Glenn’s been performing but Marcus Stoinis does become available, all things going well at training today.”
This is not the first freak injury that Maxwell has sustained after suffering a badly broken leg and almost losing a foot when he slipped while pretending to chase a mate at a 50th birthday party. That ruled him out of action for nearly five months.
Golf has also caused other high-profile cricketers injuries, most notably England star Jonny Bairstow, who missed the entire winter following a horrific broken leg sustained on a golf course, while Josh Inglis was ruled out of the 2022 T20 World Cup when he suffered a badly cut hand as a club snapped.
But McDonald has no intention of banning his players from golfing during their time off.
“It was a fantastic couple of days,” he said. “We feel as though that’s important when we’re on the road for extended periods of time… it’s an unfortunate accident.”
