WATCH | Glenn Maxwell dons wicketkeeping gloves in training as Australia potentially prepare to drop Matthew Wade

10/27/2022

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Glenn Maxwell stole the headlines on Thursday ahead of a crucial tie against England after he was seen practising with wicket-keeping gloves. Regular keeper Matthew Wade recently contracted COVID-19 which means the hosts need to have a backup ready given there is no reserve keeper in the squad.

Australia's indoor training session in Melbourne on Thursday featured Glenn Maxwell donning the wicket-keeping gloves and honing his skills behind the wicket, ahead of the all-important World T20 encounter against arch-rivals England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Both teams have so far won and lost a game each in the group meaning the loser of their clash might be effectively eliminated from the running for the semi-finals spot at an early stage of the tournament itself.

The Kangaroos have already suffered major setbacks in the run-up to the fixture, with both Adam Zampa and Matthew Wade testing positive for COVID-19. While the former has already recovered, Wade is yet to return a negative result but that won't hamper his opportunity to play against the Three Lions. Tournament guidelines dictate that as long as a player has minor symptoms, he can take to the field but will have to travel separately from the rest of the team and won't be allowed into the changing room alongside them.

However, just in case the hosts decide to keep him out of the lineup, they will need someone from the team to fill in with the gloves. Reserve wicket-keeper Josh Inglis had to be replaced in the squad at the very last minute, after suffering an injury while golfing, with Cameron Green who has no history of keeping wickets. Thus, either David Warner, Aaron Finch or Glenn Maxwell is likely to wear the gloves on Friday. While both Warner and Maxwell have kept in Tests before, with the latter claiming to have done it more recently in 2015, Finch has on occasion served as the keeper for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League.

Nevertheless, the Australian skipper had stated ahead of the tournament that Maxwell is way down the hierarchy while Warner is the leading candidate to take up the responsibility in case a shuffle is needed for the big encounter.