Australian all-rounder likely to return to Test cricket after seven years

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is likely to make his return to Test cricket after a seven-year hiatus during the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

A report from Sydney Morning Herald suggests that Maxwell, who last played a Test in 2017, is on the selector’s radar for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in early 2025.

Maxwell might be slotted to play in the lower-middle-order while contributing significantly with his off-spin bowling.

Nathan Lyon will continue as the primary spinner, while Matthew Kuhnemann, Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, and Mitchell Swepson are also under consideration.

It is worth noting that Glenn Maxwell was not selected for the T20I series against Scotland and England, however, according to the report he was given rest in order to keep him fresh for Test cricket.

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“We prioritise every Test, we’ll take that across the summer and see how the five Tests against India go and then we’ll make those decisions post that as to exactly how everyone’s travelling,” the chairman of selectors George Bailey said.

“What we do know about Sri Lanka is that potentially the surfaces there do give you a bit of a different make-up of your Test side, so it doesn’t tend to look exactly the same as what the Test team over the Australian summer might look like,” he added.

For the unversed, Maxwell was part of the Australian squad that levelled the Test series 1-1 in Sri Lanka back in 2022, however, he did not play a game.

Later he was in consideration for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2023, but a freak accident caused a leg injury, which ruled him out of the contention.

Maxwell has represented Australia in seven Test matches, all in Asia, scoring 339 runs at an average of 26.07. He also bagged eight wickets.

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