MELBOURNE: Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell ruled himself out of the upcoming limited overs tour of South Africa to undergo surgery on his left elbow.
Maxwell, who had taken a break from cricket for mental health reasons in late 2019, was set to make his international comeback after a prolific Big Bash League season. However, the 31-year-old will now undergo surgery and is expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks.
Top-order batsman D’Arcy Short has been called up as his replacement. Short comes into the side on the back of strong performances in the BBL. He scored 357 runs at 44.62, while also picking up six wickets.
Australia National Selector Trevor Hohns expressed confidence and said that D’Arcy has been presented an opportunity to prove himself in the South Africa tour.
“Like Glenn, D’Arcy is an inventive, hard-hitting batsman who offers a handy spin-bowling option. We have no doubt he will make a positive contribution to the squad.
“We are disappointed to lose Glenn this close to the tour as we were looking forward to welcoming him back to the national side in both the 20- and 50-over formats after his break during the summer. Unfortunately, the pain he has experienced in the elbow in the latter stages of the BBL increased over the weekend and he will have surgery immediately to rectify the situation.”
Maxwell acknowledged that it was not easy to pull out of the South Africa tour, but said he was not confidence about performing to the best of his ability due to the elbow discomfort.
“Representing Australia is the highest honour in cricket and something I cherish,” he said. “I was not confident that I could perform at the international level with my elbow in its current state and have decided to undergo surgery straight away to fix the issue.”
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who was left out of the original squads, has still not found a place in both T20 and ODI team.
T20I squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitch Marsh, D’Arcy Short, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (vc), Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, D’Arcy Short, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
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