Paceman Josh Hazlewood expects Glenn Maxwell to face Bangladesh in Australia’s final round-robin match at the World Cup this weekend despite the gruelling nature of his spectacular innings against Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Maxwell suffered the excruciating pain of all body cramps at Wankhede Stadium as he scored an unbeaten double century that has been hailed as the greatest one-day international innings of all time by cricketing luminaries.
The unlikely three-wicket victory sent Australia into a semi-final against South Africa and rendered Saturday’s clash against Bangladesh in Pune a dead-rubber but Hazlewood reckons Maxwell will still suit up for the match.
“Yeah, I think so,” the bowler told News Ltd. “It’s just about getting your hydration and your weight back to where it should have been before.
“I don’t think he’ll do too much in between now and then and it’s a couple of days. So hopefully, fingers crossed he’s all right.”
Maxwell, who scored 201 off 128 balls, said he had almost retired at 147 after slumping to the pitch with cramp in both legs and then suffered a back spasm while he lay prone.
“He went down like he was a shot, lying down like a dead man on the floor,” team physiotherapist Nick Jones recalled on Cricket Australia’s website.
“I got out there and it was his right calf, his left hammy and a few other areas that were all cramping at the same time.
“While we were giving him a bit of a stretch out, it was in that moment he said, ‘I’m done here. I can’t keep going. I need to come off and retire’.
“He was struggling big time but I said to Glenn initially, ‘Look, I think your best bet is to get you up off the ground’.”
Maxwell did get up and, despite struggling to move, relied on his natural batting instincts to complete the extraordinary innings.
“The way it played out from there was absolutely amazing and well beyond anything I expected he could do,” Jones added. “I think we made the right call in terms of keeping him out there.”