On Friday, Australia’s explosive right-hand batsman withdrew his name from the inaugural season of ‘The Hundred’ in the UK, forcing team London Spirit to sign a replacement in the form of Josh Inglis.
“Unfortunately Glenn Maxwell has pulled out of the Hundred. We were really excited to get him in the draft. We know he’s a match-winner and we were excited to have him.”
“Unfortunately he’s pulled out of that and we’ve now replaced him with Josh Inglis from Western Australia, so we are lucky to have him,”
Spirit coach Shane Warne said on the Fox Cricket podcast,
Inglis has been signed as a replacement after missing out on selection for the trips to the Caribbean and Bangladesh. Many pundits see it as a reward for his impressive performances in the Big Bash League and Marsh One-Day Cup domestically.
Inglis faces no logistical and quarantine hurdles to the London Spirit deal as he is already in the UK, playing for Leicestershire in the T20 Blast. The 26-year-old right-hand batsman and keeper has been in fantastic form in the competition, with 269 runs at an average of 44.83 and a strike rate of 174.67 to his name. He struck an unbeaten hundred against Northamptonshire last week.
Inglis, an uncapped Australian player, boasts an impressive overall T20 record to his name: 1,226 runs at a strike-rate of 149.33 in 49 matches.
The Hundred men’s teams will have the opportunity to sign up an additional local player each and finalise their squads at the tournament’s wildcard draft on July 2. The league’s inaugural season begins on July 21.