Maxwell was holding the back of the golf cart while returning from the clubhouse to the team bus on the evening of a scheduled day off when he lost his grip. It is understood that this was a short journey of about 300 meters and there were not enough carriages available to accommodate everyone. He is expected to remain in concussion protocol for six to eight days.
“He’s been honest with the information he’s given,” head coach Andrew McDonald said. “He’s doing well. He’ll start some light practices today and we think it’ll be a fairly straightforward return-to-play protocol. I think what was fortunate was that there weren’t any other injuries that were too bad. It could have happened in the present.
“I think to be fair it shocked everyone when it was concluded there was an injury and he would miss a game. There was nothing unpleasant in behavior all day: it was a clear accident and unfortunately there was compromise It’s what we’re doing as a team.”
“They will obviously make a small reshuffle at the back end of our batting and no doubt that will compromise our bowling a bit and the way Glenn has performed with the ball,” McDonald said. “There’s no doubt a bit of how Glenn is performing has come to us, but with Marcus Stoinis available, everything has been going well in training today.”
After the win against New Zealand in Dharamshala, the entire team was given two full days off and the players were free to use that time as they wished. While some stayed in the Himalayas and reached Ahmedabad on Wednesday, many players and support staff played in an internal golf tournament.
Maxwell is the latest player to suffer a serious injury in golf. Last year, Jonny Bairstow missed the entire England winter with a horrific foot fracture, and Josh Inglis was ruled out of the 2022 T20 World Cup after a club broke his hand badly I went.
However, McDonald stressed his belief that golf should not be banned as it is important to allow players a break from cricket. “It’s been a great two days,” he said. “When we’re on the road that long we feel like it’s important… This is an unfortunate accident.”
McDonald indicated that Labuschagne was likely to retain his place in Australia’s eleven due to injury, and that he could also play a role with the ball: “He’ll be able to do some of the spinning duties and he’ll be able to do that with his offspin. Also working on my offspin.” Legspin… we feel like we have enough options to control the pace of the game if the surface requires it.”
Along with David Warner, Labuschagne is one of two players to have featured in all 14 of Australia’s ODI matches since the beginning of September – despite being left out of the initial World Cup squad in August due to weak performances in the format. In the World Cup, he has scored 201 runs at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 77.30 and has found himself batting at numbers 4, 5 and 7.
“I know that if I’m selected, I’m the right person for that role in the middle of the order,” Labuschagne said on Wednesday. “I feel like I have dealt with the situations I have faced well. Having scored 40 out of 60 against Sri Lanka, you isolate it without the situation of the game and you say, ‘Oh, it’s really slow.’
“But it was just what we needed to make sure we put ourselves in a good position, and then obviously we got the net run-rate (boost) as well… I think I’m batting well. Am. In one-day cricket, especially in the middle order, you will not be able to score runs every time.”
Australia lost its first two matches at the World Cup, but are in a good position to book a place in the semi-finals after four consecutive wins. After the England game, they will face Afghanistan and Bangladesh to exit the group stage.
Andrew McGlashan is deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo; Matt Roller is an assistant editor