Absent maiden is sitting on grass (7)
I believe the answer is:
missing
'absent' is the definition.
('missing' can be similar in meaning to 'absent')
'maiden is sitting on grass' is the wordplay.
'maiden' becomes 'm' (cricket abbreviation).
'sitting on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'grass' becomes 'sing' (I've seen this in other clues).
'm'+'is'+'sing'='MISSING'
(Other definitions for missing that I've seen before include "Not to be found" , "Absent with location unknown" , "Lost without" .)