Maxwell to miss England match after suffering concussion in golf accident
Written by I Dig SportsMaxwell was holding onto the back of a golf cart on the way back from the club house to the team bus in the early evening during one of scheduled days off when he lost his grip. It's understood it was a short journey and there were not enough carts available for everyone to be seated. He is expected to be under concussion protocols for six to eight days.
"He's been honest with the information he's provided," head coach Andrew McDonald 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. Suppose the fortunate part was there was no other injury sustained which could have been a lot worse that it currently is.
"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."
The latest setback means Australia will need to replace one of their key middle-order players for the game against England with either Marcus Stoinis or Cameron Green likely to come in and Marnus Labuschagne now favoured to retain his place in the XI.
"They'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 said. "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."
The entire squad had been given two full days off after their victory against New Zealand in Dharamshala with players free to use that time how they wished.
However, McDonald stressed his belief that activities such as golf should not be banned as it was important to allow players to get away from cricket.
Australia are well placed to secure a semi-final berth having won four matches in a row. After the England game, they face Afghanistan and Bangladesh to round out the group stages.