Australian coach Andrew McDonald has conceded there is concern over Glenn Maxwell’s latest injury with three Australian T20 debutants in South Africa potentially auditioning for spots in the World Cup squad.
New Aussie captain Mitch Marsh said it was “exciting” to see left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, all-rounder Aaron Hardie and batter Matt Short get their first taste of international cricket in the absence of a raft of incumbents.
That includes Maxwell, who was forced to leave the tour with an ankle injury as he continues to deal with the lingering effects of the horror broken leg he suffered last November.
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McDonald said he remained hopeful Maxwell, as well as Pat Cummins (wrist), Steve Smith (wrist) and Mitch Starc (groin), would be available for the ODI World Cup in India in November but conceded the injury situation made the squad “far from settled”.
“The information on all of them is they will be right for the World Cup, which is positive, but you never know obviously when you’re coming off injury. If there was a recurrence, then that could shift our thinking a little bit,” he said.
“Is this an audition potentially for spaces that may open up in South Africa? There’s no doubt about that. We feel as though we’ve got some exciting talent coming through. You look at Aaron Hardie in that all-rounder space, getting his opportunity.
“Spencer Johnson as well, a left-arm fast bowler. We’ve got some new players coming through and we feel as though it’s the right time for that as well to blend that youth with experience.”
McDonald said Maxwell’s issue was “concerning” for the all-rounder.
“And the reason why it’s concerning is it’s happened a couple of times,” he told SEN.
“If you remember back to the three-match series against India, he played in the first one and pulled up a bit lame from that and then coming into camp for this one has had another small setback.
“There’s no doubt on the back of what was a horrendous injury that he suffered there’s always going to be a balance between the load that he can take on and unfortunately, he’s had a small setback here, but we’re confident that he’ll be right for the World Cup.”
Marsh will lead the new-look team in the three-match T20 series that begins on Thursday morning and said it was an opportunity for new players to get the feeling of “winning games for Australia”.
“They have all earned their opportunities and we are all really excited,” he said.
“We have no expectations. I’ve got a lot of confidence they are all going to be able to perform at international level.
“Whether or not that makes us underdogs, I don’t know.”