Back in the baggy green? Selectors plan for Glenn Maxwell’s Test comeback

Glenn Maxwell is in line for a long-awaited return to Australia’s Test team in Sri Lanka next year, as the national selectors ponder a radically altered line-up for the games that will make or break their defence of the world Test championship.

This week’s unveiling of the squads for the white-ball tours of Scotland and England may seem a long way removed from the Tests against India and Sri Lanka this summer, but they marked the point at which the season’s plans began rolling.

Glenn Maxwell dons the baggy green in 2017.Credit: Getty Images

Maxwell and Mitchell Starc were each rested from portions of the UK trip and Pat Cummins will miss it entirely. This is to keep them fresh for later assignments across formats, including the India and Sri Lanka Tests.

Having not played a Test since 2017, Maxwell was part of the squad in Sri Lanka in 2022 but narrowly missed out on selection. This time around, with no David Warner available and some lingering lessons from that 1-1 series, Maxwell’s chances have risen as part of a bespoke line-up for the conditions.

In the mooted Sri Lanka Test XI, Travis Head would likely open, swapping places in the order with Steve Smith, while Pete Handscomb and Josh Inglis may also find their ways into the team in place of Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey.

Maxwell, then, would bat at seven or eight as a spinning all-rounder, ahead of captain Cummins, Nathan Lyon and the 2023 Indian tour success story Matt Kuhnemann. Mitch Swepson and Adam Zampa are other spinners who may be in contention to turn the ball away from the bat.

Cameron Green’s pace bowling will be vital to this configuration as a back-up seam option alongside Cummins.

In terms of off-spinners, Todd Murphy and Western Australia’s Corey Rocchiccioli are now closely matched as the understudies for Lyon, after Murphy struggled with shoulder problems last summer while Rocchiccioli pouched 46 wickets as part of WA’s Shield victory.

“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,” selection chair 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.

“There’s a pretty clear plan in place in terms of what the Test prep will look like, and getting away and ensuring guys get some time in similar conditions or Sri Lankan conditions before the start of those two Tests.”

One complicating factor for Maxwell is his importance to the Melbourne Stars and the Big Bash League, with a possible tug-of-war looming over how many BBL games he might miss to be in the best physical shape for the Sri Lanka trip.

Tournament organisers are hopeful that as many as nine members of the home Test XI will take part in the BBL, but the short turnaround from the India Tests to Sri Lanka, a tour immediately followed by the ODI Champions Trophy in Pakistan, may challenge that assumption.

“It’s pretty clear that I’ve always had a pretty solid game in subcontinent conditions and it’s been something that has developed since my first tour over there [in 2013],” Maxwell told this masthead in November. “The way I’ve played spin bowling in subcontinent conditions, with being a little bit more aggressive and putting pressure on the opposition, has been something appealing to the selectors over time.

“Just the fact I was able to be on the Sri Lanka tour last year is a sign they still have me in their thoughts and see me as an option. Regardless of whether I played one or 30 games in red-ball cricket, I’m still going to be an option to go over there.

“I think that’s why 2025 in Sri Lanka is something I’ve put in my calendar as something I’m hopeful to be a part of, and not giving up hope that my Test cricket’s done. If I can get there and hopefully be good enough to take part in the series.”

Second on the WTC table behind India, Australia will need to keep their percentage of games won ahead of the rest to qualify for the final at Lord’s in June next year.

Team for Glenn Maxwell’s most recent Test match, in Bangladesh in 2017: Matt Renshaw, David Warner, Steve Smith (capt), Pete Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Steve O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon.

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