Golf buggy crash rules Australia’s Maxwell out of England clash

AHMEDABAD – Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will miss the Cricket World Cup clash with old rivals England after falling off a golf buggy and suffering concussion, media reports said on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old came off the back of the buggy in the dark after playing a round on Monday as players took a break between matches at the marathon tournament, which runs from Oct 5 to Nov 19.

As well as concussion, Maxwell picked up significant bruising, said cricket.com.au, the digital arm of Cricket Australia.

It is the second freak accident to befall Maxwell in the last 12 months, after he broke his leg at a friend’s birthday party in November 2022.

Maxwell blasted his way into the record books at the World Cup last week when he hit the fastest hundred in tournament history off just 40 balls in a 309-run demolition of the Netherlands in New Delhi.

Although Maxwell will sit out Saturday’s game against England at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, he is expected to return for the latter stages of the tournament.

“In transporting him back from the clubhouse to the team bus, Glenn came off the back of a cart and has suffered a small concussion, so he will go into concussion protocols for the next period of time and will unfortunately miss the England game,” coach Andrew McDonald said.

“The guys were ferried off on carts. 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. It was just a clear-cut accident.

“He’s an important player for us, hopefully it’s just the one game he misses.

“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.”

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.

After facing defending champions England, the Australians will tackle Afghanistan in Mumbai next Tuesday and conclude their group campaign in Pune against Bangladesh on Nov 11.

Maxwell is the latest player to fall victim to a freak golfing injury. In 2022, Jonny Bairstow missed the entire England winter following a horrific broken leg, and Josh Inglis was ruled out of the 2022 T20 World Cup, suffering a badly cut hand when a club snapped.

But McDonald stressed his belief that golf should not be banned as it was important to allow players to get away from cricket.

“It was a fantastic couple of days. We feel as though that’s important when we’re on the road for extended periods of time… it’s an unfortunate accident,” he said.

Five-time champions Australia are third in the 10-team table and look well placed to reach the semi-finals after winning four of six games so far. The top four sides will move into the semi-finals, which are slated for Nov 15 and 16. AFP