Australia's white-ball specialist Glenn Maxwell looked fighting fit as he blasted a fine half-century during a weekend club fixture on his return from a grievous leg injury he had suffered in November last year.
The 34-year-old cricketer will now play a Sheffield Shield match for Victoria against South Australia on Monday, and if he does well he could be in line for national call-up for the three ODIs against India in March.
Maxwell had fractured his left fibula at a friend's party days after Australia had made a premature exit from the ICC T20 World Cup at home in November 2022, following which he underwent surgery and a long three-month rest and recovery phase.
The injury happened at a time when he was bracing for a Shield match in December last year to claim a spot in Australia's Test squad for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series in India.
Playing his first game after injury, he smashed 61, studded with two sixes and five boundaries for club side Fitzroy-Doncaster.
Maxwell, who has signed up to play for Birmingham Bears in England's T20 Blast and London Spirit in The Hundred, showed that his recovery from injury is complete as he played some cracking shots during his 92-ball stay in a Victorian Premier Cricket fixture.
Coming in at 3/18, with his side struggling in the chase of Kingston Hawthorn's 215 in Melbourne, Maxwell stabilised the innings and put them on course for a thrilling two-wicket win.
The star cricketer is not expected to bowl in the Shield match on Monday should he pass a final fitness test, according to cricket.com.au.
"To bring a player of Glenn's calibre into the squad is exciting; he has a fantastic record in Shield cricket and it's a shame he hasn't been able to play more of it," said David Hussey, Cricket Victoria's head of male cricket on Saturday.
