ICC World Cup 2023: Australia suffer massive setback ahead of match against England

Australia have suffered a major setback ahead of their crucial match in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 against England on November 4 in Ahmedabad.

All-rounder and in-form player Glenn Maxwell has been ruled out of the match against the defending World Cup champions after suffering a concussion during a golf incident on Monday (October 30).

"He's been honest with the information he's provided," head coach Andrew McDonald said. "He's doing fine. He'll start some light exercises today and we feel as though it will be a reasonably straightforward return-to-play protocol. I suppose the fortunate part was there was no other injury sustained which could have been a lot worse that it currently is.

"I think it rattled everyone to be fair once it came to the conclusion there was a concussion and he was going to miss a game. There was nothing untoward in the behaviour throughout the day: it was a clear-cut accident and unfortunately it's compromised what we are doing as a team."

This was not the first time Maxwell suffered an injury outside the cricketing activities as last year, he broke his leg during a friend’s birthday party as he slipped which ruled him out for almost five months.

"The last 12 months, Glenn's been up and down in terms of his recovery and it was a horrific injury that took place, but he's been really good since he got here," McDonald said.

Australia will likely replace Maxwell with either Marcus Stoinis or Cameron Green as Pat Cummins’ would like to replace an all-rounder with an all-rounder who can give them five to six overs at the very least.

On the other hand, McDonald hinted that Labuschagne is likely to retain his spot in Australia's XI as a result of the injury, and could even play a role with the ball: "He will be able to do some spinning duties and he's been working on his offspin along with his legspin… we feel as though we've got enough options to take the pace out of the game, should the surface require that."

It is worth mentioning that Maxwell is one of the most in-form players in the World Cup as on October 25, the 35-year-old smashed a 40-ball century against the Netherlands, which was the fastest in the history of the World Cup as the Aussies defeated the Dutch by 309-runs, the biggest win in tournament’s history.