Image Credit- ICC
Glenn Maxwell sustained a concussion in a golf-related
incident on Monday, and as a result, he is not allowed to play in the ODI World
Cup match against England in Ahmedabad.
One early evening on one of his regular days off,
Maxwell was walking back from the clubhouse at Kalhaar Blues and Greens Golf
Club, outside Ahmedabad, to the team bus when he lost his grip on the golf
cart’s back. It is said to have been a brief trip of about 300 metres, and not
enough carts were available for everyone to have a seat. He will likely need to
follow concussion procedures for a period of six to eight days.
“He’s been honest with the information he’s
provided,” Andrew McDonald, Australia’s coach, said. “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
that 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.”
Last year Maxwell suffered a badly broken leg when he
slipped at a friend’s birthday party and it ruled him out of action for nearly
five months. “The last 12 months, Glenn’s been up and down in terms of his
recovery and it was a horrific injury that took place, but he’s been really
good since he got here,” McDonald said.
Due to their most recent defeat, Australia will have
to substitute one of their important middle-order players for Marcus Stoinis or
Cameron Green for the match against England. Marnus Labuschagne is now the
favourite to start in the starting lineup.