Adnrew McDonald: Australia men’s head coach Adnrew McDonald said all-rounder Glenn Maxwell needs to have a look at the choices he makes while in his time away from the team, following him being briefly hospitalised in Adelaide.Maxwell was rested from Australia’s upcoming ODI series against West Indies, after being given time to rest following a gruelling period of playing cricket. Recently, Maxwell was hospitalised following a night out in Adelaide, with reports saying he suffered from dehydration at a pub.
Maxwell was in the city to attend a golf event and the incident happened after attending a musical event alongside fast-bowling great Brett Lee and several West Indies players. He last played a game of competitive cricket on January 15, which was also Melbourne Stars’ last game in the BBL.
“I’ve spoken to Glenn, had a good chat with him yesterday around the incident. As I said before, him looking after himself needs to be a consideration moving forward. We’ve given him the opportunity to rest and rehab in that period of time and I suppose the lessons for him around that would be to take up his end of the bargain in that space and take care of himself.
“We want to see Glenn Maxwell playing cricket for the next three to four years for Australia. Can he get to the next World Cup in 2027 in South Africa? Who knows. But he’s a key player in our white-ball formats. When he is out there we’re a far better team and on the back of that horrific injury that he did have, there’s going to be some management things that are put in place around him.
“But we want Glenn Maxwell playing for Australia for as long as he can. We’re going to have to do our end and Glenn is no doubt going to have to hold up his end of the bargain. All the information he’s given, he’s had a few drinks and clearly the night has ended the way that it did and that’s less than ideal from his perspective and our perspective.
“It’s an honest mistake. He needs to obviously have a look at what he’s doing at his end and is that the right thing to be doing at that time? Thankfully there’s no harm out of it. He’s well now.
“That’s the other thing to consider in these instances, yes you can point the finger but there’s a duty of care from our end and he’s doing well and he looks as though he’ll return to play in that West Indies series in those T20 games which we’re excited for,” said McDonald to SEN Radio.
Australia have been careful about managing Maxwell ever since the all-rounder broke his leg in a horrific accident at a 50th birthday party of his friend, which kept him out of the game for nearly six months. Though Maxwell has been playing cricket consistently, the leg which was previously broken has affected his post-match recovery.
“It’s a discussion we’ve had for the last couple of weeks just around where he’s at physically, on the back of that major injury he had. It’s well over 12 months ago now. But that injury hasn’t allowed him to do the things that he’s wanted to do over a period of time and recovery is one of the biggest problems that he has had, pulling up from games. He just started to flag that at the back end of the BBL.
“For those who know one-day international cricket well, it’s probably one of the most demanding formats for any player. The amount of speed they have to move at in the field and with the bat. Obviously, Maxwell being a three-dimensional cricketer, we felt it was a prime opportunity just to give him a little bit of a chop out to get ready for the T20s.
“That’s going to be an ongoing management problem with Glenn, we believe. We had some good results in the World Cup but also if you think back to before the World Cup, going to South Africa, we had to pull the same lever in terms of managing where his body is at.
“So it’s got to be a consideration for him, how he looks after himself moving forward for the longevity of his career. But we’ve also got to weigh into that with the way that we manage him and we feel as though this is the best for him at this point in time,” concluded McDonald.
