Glenn Maxwell Ruled Out Of South Africa Tour Due To Elbow Surgery, Expected To Be Fit For IPL

Australia have suffered a big injury blow ahead of their tour of South Africa with their star allrounder Glenn Maxwell ruled out to undergo surgery on his left elbow. Australia’s selectors once again ignored in-form Marcus Stoinis and named D’Arcy Short as Glenn Maxwell’s replacement in both the T20I and ODI squads for the six-match tour.

Glenn Maxwell will have surgery on the joint on Thursday in Melbourne. The Australia star had been carrying the injury since the back-end of the just-concluded Big Bash League where he led his side Melbourne Stars to the final. He reported an increase in pain and scans revealed some loose bone fragments in the joint that prompted the decision to have surgery.

Glenn Maxwell is expected to be on the sidelines for close to two months but is expected to play in the upcoming Indian Premier League. He will ply his trade for Kings XI Punjab after being signed by the franchise for more than $2 million at last year’s player auction.

The series in South Africa would have been Maxwell’s first outing in international cricket since he took a break from cricket in October to focus on his mental health. He returned to action soon through the BBL and although he impressed straightaway, he could not make it to the ODI squad for the tour of India last month.

“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,” Australia’s National Selector Trevor Hohns said.

“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,” he added.

Meanwhile, D’Arcy Short was in good form in BBL too. The left-handed batsman was a member of Australia’s ODI tour to India after being called in as an injury replacement for Sean Abbott before being dropped for the South Africa tour. In nine BBL matches for Hobart Hurricanes this summer, Short scored 357 runs at a strike rate of 131.25 with a high score of 103 not out. He also picked up six wickets.