AUSTRALIA star Glenn Maxwell has opened the door for Matthew Parkinson to secure a return to play Big Bash cricket with the Melbourne Stars.

Parkinson had to pull out of a winter deal to play in the Aussie domestic T20 league when he suffered a second stress fracture in three years in November.

The Bolton leg-spinner starred in last season’s Vitality Blast with 25 wickets as Lancashire reached Finals Day at Edgbaston.

His haul was the second best in the competition, and convinced Stars captain Maxwell and coach Stephen Fleming, the former New Zealand batsman, to recruit him.

Parkinson, aged 22, was due to play in the second half of the Big Bash after Christmas as a replacement for Nepal leg spinner Sandeep Lamichane.

But he had to spend his winter recuperating at Emirates Old Trafford with the Lancashire medics.

Coincidentally, the Red Rose club have since signed Maxwell as an overseas player to figure in all formats throughout the coming season, giving him a chance to take a first-hand look at former Bolton School pupil Parkinson, who began his cricket career as a junior at Heaton Cricket Club and now plays for Egerton CC.

“With the squad we had developed with the Stars, we weren’t very spin heavy,” Maxwell said.

“We had Sandeep, but he was unavailable for parts of the tournament. So we wanted somebody else there to fill the gap he would leave.

“Watching Matt last year and the way he bowled, it was a really attractive package for us.

“Unfortunately he got injured at the eleventh hour and we had to make some changes.

“But he’s someone we’ll certainly be looking at in the future.”

Maxwell will start the season with Lancashire, arriving at Old Trafford on April 1 to play in the opening County Championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s 10 days later.

The exhilarating batting all-rounder will then start the Royal London one-day Cup midway through next month as he prepares for the World Cup at the end of May.

He returns to Lancashire colours for the T20 Blast and the closing stages of the Championship campaign from July onwards.

Ironically, both Parkinson and Maxwell are currently in Dubai. Parkinson is there on Lancashire’s pre-season and Maxwell for a one-day series between Australia and Pakistan.

Parkinson is fully fit now and looking forward to putting his injury issues firmly behind him.

He said: “I’ve probably been bowling for the last two months and flat out for the last month.

“I’ve taken a more controlled approach, so not bowling 25 overs one day and then 25 the next. It’s been more like a seam bowler’s approach.

“It was disappointing to miss out on playing for the Stars, but you do try and take the positives.

“I’ve learnt a few things about myself and my action. There was obviously something that was causing an issue because to have two stress fractures in two and a half years isn’t ideal.

“But I’ve been asked this question a lot. I’m still hopeful that one day I will play in the Big Bash, and maybe I’ll look back on the last few months and think, ‘It made me a better cricketer’.”