Only Maxwell shows up to optional training, as Boof encourages rest for ODI

They say rest is for the wicked, but Australia coach Darren Lehmann believes a bit of down time holds the key to his team’s quest to regain their batting mojo.

Australia’s top-order have struggled during the current one-day series against Pakistan, crashing to scores of 5-78 and 4-86 in the first two matches.

The five-match series is locked at 1-1, placing huge importance on Thursday’s clash at the WACA Ground.

Australia held an optional training session in Perth on Wednesday – with batsman Glenn Maxwell the only player to rock up.

It wasn’t that the rest of the squad were too lazy to go through the motions, but rather Lehmann strongly encouraged them to take the day off in order to freshen up.

Lehmann hopes the move will pay handsome dividends.

“You can only do so much training at the end of the day,” Lehmann said.

“You’ve got to put it out on the park, that’s the big thing for us.

“So making sure they’re fresh and ready to go (is important).

“We’ve played a lot of cricket over the past five months, and we’ve got a lot of cricket coming up.

“So where we can get some refresh time and get them away from the game is important.”

Lehmann said the only reason Maxwell showed up was because he was accustomed to having a hit the day before the game, and didn’t want to break with tradition.

Australia will make two changes to their XI.

Batsman Peter Handscomb has been named for his ODI debut in place of the injured Mitch Marsh, while 204cm paceman Billy Stanlake comes in for the rested Mitchell Starc.