Australian coach Andrew McDonald has told Glenn Maxwell he needs to pull his head in after he was hospitalised last week after going on a boozy bender in Adelaide.
Maxwell is set to avoid sanction from Cricket Australia’s integrity unit despite being “managed” out of the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies as part of workload concerens over his ongoing ankle injury.
Maxwell played a round of golf through the heat of Friday, before attending the Six and Out gig where he was drinking.
He passed out when in the green room after the show and he was taken to the emergency room of a hospital via ambulance and was later released without being admitted.
“I’ve spoken to Glenn and had a good chat with him yesterday around the incident,” McDonald told SEN Radio on Wednesday.
“As I said before, him looking after himself has to be a consideration moving forward and we are giving 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 and take care of himself.
Glenn Maxwell. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“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? He’s a key player in our white ball format and when he’s out there we are a far better team.
“We’re going to do our end and Glenn’s going to have to pull up his end of that bargain.
“All the information he’s given, he’s had a few drinks and the night has ended the way that it did and that’s less than ideal from his perspective and our perspective and it’s an honest mistake.
“He needs to have a look at what he’s doing at his end and whether it’s the right thing, but thankfully there’s no harm out of it and he’s well now.
“There’s obviously a duty of care from our end and it looks like he’ll return for that T20 series against the West Indies.”
Maxwell’s leg injury stems from an incident over a year ago when he suffered a fracture during a mishap at a friend’s party although he is adamant he was not intoxicated when it happened.
He also missed a match at the World Cup in India in November when he fell out of a golf cart.
“It’s a discussion we’ve had over the last couple of weeks around where he is at physically on the back of that major injury he had over 12 months ago now,” McDonald added.
“That injury hasn’t allowed him to do the things he’s wanted to do over a period of time and recovery is one of the biggest problems he has pulling up from games.
“He just started to flag in the back-end of the Big Bash and for those that know ODI cricket well, it’s probably one of the most demanding formats for any player with the speed they have to move in the field and with the bat and Maxwell being a bowler as well.
“We thought the chance to give him a little bit of a chop out to get ready for the T20s against the West Indies which will be named later today.
“It’s more a physical capability in that ODI format and that’ll be an ongoing management problem with Glenn we believe.
“We had some good results in the World Cup, but if you think back to before that in South Africa we had to pull the same lever in terms of managing where his body is at.
“It’s got to be a consideration for him in terms of how he looks after himself for the longevity of his career, but we’ve also got to weigh that in the way that we manage him and what’s best for him at this point in time.”
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