When players get called up for national duty; it's because they have performed well on the domestic level. Another avenue for selection is continued excellent performances for the national team.
When a player is selected when he/she hasn't fulfilled either of the criteria above; questions will be raised. Australia's selection of Nic Maddinson has raised such questions.
Nic Maddinson’s shock return to the Australian Test squad almost a decade after his last appearance has raised eyebrows ahead of the first match against South Africa.
It comes as the injury curse that has struck Australia in its tour of South Africa has worsened with all-rounder Cameron Green under a cloud ahead of the first Test beginning on Friday.
Green, who banished questions about his spot in the Australian team with a superb century in Darwin against Bangladesh; suffered an abdominal strain in an ODI game on Wednesday.
While there have been concerns over Green’s shoulder, Cricket Australia said in a statement on Thursday night that the latest injury occurred while he was fielding in the Australian win in Potchefstroom in the 3rd ODI.
He will be assessed over the next week to see whether he is fit for the first Test in Durban in what is a highly anticipated series given it is Australia’s first in South Africa since the Sandpapergate scandal in 2018.
Matt Renshaw has been cleared of injury and will open the batting against South Africa.
With Australia already forced to find a replacement for Josh Inglis, who suffered a broken finger earlier in the ODI series, the concern surrounding Green is another blow.
The Australians have also called in Victorian wicketkeeper, Sam Harper, who performed superbly for Australia A in a match against India A earlier this week and Nic Maddinson for cover.
Harper has enjoyed a meteoric rise from domestic ranks, with his 667 runs for Victoria in the most recent Sheffield Shield season catching the eyes of national selectors.
Maddinson identified himself as a potential star a decade ago but failed to make an impact in three Tests against South Africa and Pakistan before being dropped.
The 34-year-old, who overcame testicular cancer a couple of years ago, has performed solidly in domestic ranks in recent seasons and captains New South Wales.
“Sam gives us wicketkeeping cover as Josh continues his recovery while Nic provides flexibility throughout the batting order,” Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey said.
Maddinson made 126 for New South Wales against Victoria in an one-day cup match last week.
Despite his strong form, Maddinson’s surprise Test call-up has raised a few eyebrows.
"We’ve officially reached farcical levels at Test selection now," Simon Tugwell wrote on X. "Nic Maddison, 34 years old: A decade since his last test, no first class cricket in last 18 months, but one good dig in the One day Cup last week, and apparently that’s enough."
"Full respect to Nic’s journey to return to cricket after battling cancer - commendable in its own right - but George Bailey has sent a dangerously discouraging message to the toiling masses in the Sheffield Shield tonight."
"Sam Harper meanwhile, extremely well earned selection."
The Age’s chief cricket writer, Daniel Brettig, also questioned what the selection could mean for Australia’s younger players.
"Flirting with Mitch Marsh then picking Nic Maddinson tells you the national selectors don’t have much faith in the youth in their system for Australia’s looming Test match assignments," Brettig wrote on X.
Maddinson didn't play any first-class cricket last summer. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer after finding a tumour in early 2025 and then received news it had spread to parts of his abdominal lymph nodes and lung.
At the same time, his wife Bianca was pregnant with their second child, who was born last September. Following nine weeks of chemotherapy starting in May, he was given the all-clear in October.
The Australian squad is in the grip of an injury crisis following the three-match ODI series against the Proteas.
Inglis broke his finger in the first match, before Jack Edwards and Nathan Ellis picked up their own soft-tissue injuries in the second. Then in the third, Green and Matthew Renshaw also copped injuries.
Scans have since confirmed Green suffered a lower abdominal strain when he tried to belt a Corbin Bosch bouncer into the stands, but only gloved it to Quinton de Kock. Selectors are hopeful Green will be right by the first Test.
Later, Renshaw was hit on the forearm while fielding after the ball took an awkward bounce off an unused pitch on the edge of the square. Thankfully, he was later cleared of any injury.
Australia's chair of selectors George Bailey has insisted that calling up Nic Maddinson for the tour of South Africa hasn't sidelined state cricket despite him not playing a first-class game for 19 months.
Maddinson's elevation to the squad, amid injuries to Josh Inglis and Cameron Green, ranks as one of the most surprising calls in recent Australian history. He didn't play any Sheffield Shield cricket last season after undergoing successful treatment for testicular cancer in 2025 but is now in the mix to add to the three caps he earned in 2016.
It's understood that the initial reaction among some key figures in state cricket was one of shock and bemusement about how the selection has come about. Bailey admitted the first phone-call to Maddinson about the tour was the one to tell him late on Thursday evening that he had been called up and that he'd come into frame "not long ago."
Maddinson then made a mad dash back to his Byron Bay home to collect his passport and baggy green ahead of flying out of Sydney on Saturday.
"Certainly, it's a pretty unique set of circumstances that he hasn't been playing first-class cricket," Bailey said. "Which I think, in itself, is a pretty cool story, and [it's] great to see him back playing, but [also] just in a place where he's really enjoying it. If you look across his last three or four years, he's had some incredible bad luck with an ACL [injury], a bad arm-break…so he's had periods where he's been firmly in our thoughts and conversations around some different teams at different times, but it just seems like the cricket world's conspired against him."
"I think his elevation this year to the New South Wales captaincy says a lot about the person and how highly he's regarded … he's a good player. That's not to say that others that haven't been picked aren't good players, but I don't think you can view this one and say it's disrespectful to state cricket because he hasn't played last year. I think it's not like a player who's sitting out because he said the wickets were green."
Bailey explained that the loss of Inglis for at least the first Test with a fractured finger had left the selectors looking for two players to fill his role as both a back-up batter and back-up keeper. Sam Harper's first call-up to a Test squad, which ordinarily would've been headline-grabbing itself, has filled the later requirement.
"I think probably the challenge for people is to get past what he [Maddinson] has had to go through in the last 12 or 18 months," Bailey said. "For people who are trying to run down the list of last year's run-scorers, that's going to be a challenge for them. For the time and place that we are in right now, the conditions we're about to face, and the moving parts that we've had, he's just deemed the best fit. I don't think there's a long list of players that provide that flexibility who can genuinely say that they can do both of those roles."
From December 2018 to March 2024, Maddinson averaged 52.37 in the Sheffield Shield. He endured a lean 2025-26 season after returning to his native NSW, averaging 17.80, although in the latter half of the campaign; he was feeling fatigued with what he thought was a virus before his cancer diagnosis.
Despite only playing grade cricket, BBL and the One-Day Cup since last March, Bailey had no doubt he would up to the physical demands of Test cricket.
"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "That's what he's prepped for. [He] has been back at New South Wales this year, full-time, ready to go. So physically, mentally, [he's] well-placed."
Alongside the view that Maddinson can fill a variety of roles, Bailey also referenced him being a highly-regarded player of spin with the expectation that will play a key part in Durban - where Australia encountered a pitch in the first ODI that caused them problems - and potentially beyond. In all first-class cricket, Maddinson averages 47.97 against spin and 35.49 against pace.
"[Nic] is a strong player, a very strong player, of spin and [that's] not to dismiss work against quick bowling," Bailey said. "Probably from that one-day wicket and looking at their [South Africa's] squad a little bit, I think it's half an expectation that's probably what we're going to get hit with in Durban."
Mitch Marsh had earlier been touted as a possible addition to the squad, but he returned to Perth on Thursday for the pending birth of his second child.
Bailey added that he and fellow selector Tony Dodemaide, who is on duty with the Australia A side in India, had spoken to a number of players overlooked to explain their reasoning. Maddinson had not been considered for the A side but Bailey reiterated the different aims of that tour.
"I've said this to the group and a number of guys that didn't get picked, there's a dual purpose to that [tour]," Bailey said. "There's very much, for some, an eye to what potentially could be happening in January and February [against India] but for some there's also a journey of how difficult it is to play over there."
Even if Green is ruled out of the first Test, Maddinson would likely need another injury to force his way into the XI. Cooper Connolly, who was part of the original squad, is the frontrunner to take any vacant middle-order spot.
The odd nature of Green's abdominal injury, sustained in a three-ball spell against Corbin Bosch during the final ODI where he was stuck around the bladder by a full toss, hit a six and was then dismissed; has left Australia's medical team looking for other examples to assess likely recovery timelines.
"It's a unique enough injury that even our staff were saying, we're going to go look at some other cases to see if we can get some more information on functionality with it, how long it takes to be fully healed, [and the] difference between batting and bowling," Bailey said.
Green had been due to bowl for the first time on tour in Potchefstroom, having been restricted by a shoulder problem which Bailey revealed he had been carrying through the Test series against Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay. At that stage, it hadn't stopped him bowling although he only sent down 10 wicketless overs. Green spent Friday afternoon walking laps of JB Marks Oval and didn't appear comfortable when he reached down to collect a ball.
Inglis, meanwhile, will have a further scan on his fractured finger in a week's time when a call will be made on whether he returns to the squad ahead of the second Test.
Kurtis Patterson was also a potential to get a call-up until he suffered a groin injury playing for NSW in the domestic one-day cup last week.
The first Test begins on Friday at Kingsmead, Durban.
I am as shocked as everyone else at the decision. Even the possible selection of Marsh would be shocking. This is because the latter recently retired from Sheffield Shield cricket.
If I were an Australian cricketer, I would feel insulted. Maddinson is being selected for past performances and not any current First Class cricket ones. It feels like a pity selection. I would be discouraged by the selection. I would doubt the need for any meaningful contributions.