Aussies to the Max after hard-hitter’s five years in Test wilderness
Glenn Maxwell always thought his best chance of playing Test cricket again was in Asia and he’s on the verge of making that dream come true.
After five years in the Test wilderness, the Victorian said he was “incredibly pumped” after being called into the Australian squad in Sri Lanka after Travis Head was sidelined by a hamstring strain that has put him under a cloud for the opening Test that begins next Wednesday.
Head suffered the minor injury while fielding in the fourth one-day international and was ruled out of the fifth and final clash by captain Aaron Finch, who didn’t know if Head would be ready for the Test.
“So incredibly pumped to be given this opportunity again!” Maxwell posted on Instagram, with a photo of him batting in a Test in India.
“Time to find some white pads and dust off that little green hat.”
All seven of Maxwell’s Tests, the last of which was played in 2017, have been on the subcontinent, including his only century in India in 2017.
With Steve Smith still overcoming a quad issue, although he is expected to play, Maxwell has been added to a squad that only has one back-up batter, reserve keeper Josh Inglis.
Maxwell, in Sri Lanka with the ODI and T20 squads, was chosen ahead of Marcus Harris, Nic Maddinson, Matt Renshaw and even allrounder Mitch Marsh who were also in the country.
Spinners Matt Kuhnemann, Jon Holland and rookie Todd Murphy will also stay in Sri Lanka at the end of the Australia A series to bulk up the Test squad’s spin stocks.
Head’s injury was thought to be a result of a large fielding workload on grounds players have reported as being very heavy, with the outfielder covering more than 26km in the two games he played, with nearly half of that running.