Cricket-Maxwell fit and '100% ready' to deliver for Australia at World Cup

"We were testing out a few things like how we tape the ankle, how it bounces back after being a bit sore, stiff and not warming up. "I had two different spells out on the field bowling as well as running around, just to see how the ankle reacts when it is put under a bit of duress.

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell says he is "100% ready" for their World Cup campaign after recovering from an ankle injury and is looking forward to their opening game against hosts India on Sunday. Maxwell, who also broke his leg last November, missed Australia's recent tour of South Africa due to the ankle issue.

The 34-year-old sparkled with the ball by taking 4-40 against India to prevent a whitewash in their three-match series last month, before top-scoring with 77 in a warm-up victory over Pakistan on Tuesday. "I feel 100% ready for that first game," Maxwell told reporters. "We were testing out a few things like how we tape the ankle, how it bounces back after being a bit sore, stiff and not warming up.

"I had two different spells out on the field bowling as well as running around, just to see how the ankle reacts when it is put under a bit of duress. "Though I batted for a while I left a fair bit in the tank running between the wickets, I didn't have to bat at the back end so wasn't moving around too much. To counter that I was having a bowl to see how it feels coming on cold.

"For me personally, that was the perfect test to see how it goes under those different bits of duress and I feel like I have come out the other side really well." Australia have only one specialist spinner at the tournament in Adam Zampa but Maxwell was confident he would be effective with his off-spin when called upon.

"The ball's coming out as well as it ever has," he said. "I'm probably at that place in my career where I don't ... (need) to train as much with my bowling, I've got a real nice clarity about how it's coming out and what I need to do."

 

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