Australia's Glenn Maxwell to miss crucial World Cup match against England after suffering freak golf injury

Glenn Maxwell will miss Australia's Cricket World Cup match against England due to a fall from a golf buggy. Maxwell was riding the golf cart on Monday, 30th October in Gujarat where the incident happened.

The all-rounder injured his head and had bruises after the incident. The 35-year-old player is said to have lost his hold while going from the clubhouse to the team hotel following a round of golf.

However, head coach Andrew McDonald revealed on Wednesday that Maxwell is expected to make a full recovery as his condition will be monitored for a few days. He added that no one else was harmed in the incident.

"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," McDonald stated (according to Sky Sports).

"I suppose the fortunate part was there was no other injury sustained which could have been a lot worse than it 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," he added.

Unfortunately, this incident involving the golf buggy will make the right-hander miss his country's match against England on Saturday in Ahmedabad. Additionally, it will make Glenn Maxwell doubtful for the Afghanistan match as well on November 7.

It may be noted that this is not the first time a cricketer has faced an injury due to golf. Last year, Jonny Bairstow, too, had faced a similar situation.

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A look into Jonny Bairstow’s golf injury

Last year, in September, England's Jonny Bairstow had an injury due to golf which made him miss the T20 World Cup in Australia and his country's subsequent Test series in Pakistan. He had slipped off a tee box during a round at Pannal Golf Club in Harrogate, England.

The 33-year-old then announced that he would not play until 2023 after undergoing successful surgery on a fractured leg and dislocated ankle.

Bairstow had three distinct fractures in his left leg, as well as an ankle dislocation and ligament damage. He was out for ten months and feared for his future at one point.

Jonny Bairstow's leg surgeon believed the England international would never be able to play cricket again, equating the procedure to "putting Humpty Dumpty back together again." However, after a long hiatus, he was back to international cricket earlier this year.