Cricket
Maxwell available for SF vs SA; haven’t seen any issues with pitches: Cummins | Cricket
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Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Wednesday said Glenn Maxwell is available for the World Cup semifinal against South Africa as the all-rounder “is all clear” for Thursday’s knock-out game.
Five-time world champions Australia play the Proteas at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.
Maxwell battled cramps and severe pain to score a scintillating double century in a three-wicket win over Afghanistan at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 7.
“Glenn Maxwell is all clear. He is all good. He was a little bit sore yesterday (Tuesday). Yeah, we get scans a lot of the time just to make sure that if there is something, we know what we’re dealing with and fortunately it came back all okay. So he’s fine,” Cummins said during the pre-match press conference.
The skipper also said that Australia will announce their playing XI during the toss on Thursday. It remains to be seen whether Cummins goes with Marnus Labuschagne or Marcus Stoinis in the vital match against the Proteas.
“We will announce our XI at the toss tomorrow,” said Cummins when asked if Australia will go into the match with an extra all-rounder or a batter.
The pitch of the Wankhede Stadium has come into focus in the lead-up to the first semifinal between India and New Zealand on Wednesday, with foreign media indicating that the hosts could be micro-managing the pitch conditions for their World Cup campaign.
However, Cummins said he has not encountered such an issue during their campaign here.
“Obviously the ICC has an independent pitch curator who manages that. I’m sure they are all over making sure it’s fair to both teams. So far in this tournament that we’ve played on, I haven’t seen any issues,” said Cummins.
Cummins said he wants to savour the World Cup-winning moment in the ongoing showpiece, as he was not part of the playing XI in the final of the 2015 edition despite being a member of the squad. He featured in just two league stage matches then.
Australia had defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the 2015 World Cup final at the MCG with Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner taking three wickets each.
“I’d still say that 2015 World Cup was my career highlight, and I wasn’t playing,” said Cummins.
“But it was just the most magic moment. MCG, packed house, the whole of Australia behind us, winning a World Cup, which is rare. You only get a chance every four years, so if I’m in the playing XI (on Thursday) and we win, that might be that 2015 World Cup,” he said.
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