Glenn Maxwell’s quest to settle on England soil has been stymied by an injury as the Australian all-rounder has been ruled out of the second practice game against Pakistan due to a bruised kneecap. The match is to be played at Edgbaston on Monday.

Maxwell suffered an injury during the first practice game against Sri Lanka on Friday, which Australia won by chasing a huge total of 319, thanks to an innings of 137 from Aaron Finch. However, Maxwell failed to open his account and was dismissed for a duck bowled by Nuwan Pradeep on the first ball he faced.

Resting Maxwell is seen as a precautionary measure by the team management as they do not want to risk the all-rounder ahead of Australia’s tournament opener against New Zealand.

Maxwell is a vital cog in the Australian team and in all likeliness, the all-rounder will be the mainstay for the team during the tournament due to the fact that he can contribute in both the departments equally. In addition to that, the good form from which he is coming in, is also an additional factor that will favour Maxwell during the tournament but a miss of the practice game has hindered his preparations and his quest to get used to these conditions.

Australia faces Pakistan in their second practice game today i.e. May 29. Steven Smith is expected to mark a return in this game taking over the captaincy from David Warner, who led the team in the first practice game in absence of regular skipper.

The Steven Smith led side will face New Zealand in their first league stage game on June 2 in Birmingham. They will be up against Bangladesh and England in their next two games which will decide their future stay in the ‘Mini World Cup’.