He was Australia’s next big thing. Selectors barbecued him, twice
There are some within certain cricket circles who will tell you young Nic Maddinson was the most naturally gifted batter they’ve ever seen.
The dashing left-hander strikes the ball better than just about anyone who has picked up a bat in the past two decades, most recently showcased by his quickfire 48 in Durban last week.
Nic Maddinson of Australia edges the ball through slips. Getty Images
He was a boom teenager, making his Illawarra first grade debut for Warilla at 15, and later his Sydney first grade debut for Sutherland at 17. He was playing alongside the likes of Phil Jacques and Steve Smith in that team.
He represented New South Wales at under-17 and under-19 tournaments, starring in both, and was again a star of the show when donning the green and gold for Australia when the team beat Pakistan in the final of the ICC Under-19s World Cup at the start of 2010.
Maddinson made history later that year when he became the youngest player to score a century on Sheffield Shield debut, belting 113 for NSW at the age of 18.
Blues coach Anthony Stuart called the teenager an “outstanding talent” while Sutherland coach Shane Duff in 2012 likened Maddinson to then-Test captain Michael Clarke, telling Inside Cricket “he’s got that kind of feel to him”. Coaches were being told to fast-track his progression.
He made his senior international debut in 2013, playing two T20Is in two years, but wasn’t brought into the Test side until late 2016.
When he was eventually handed his baggy green, he was completely thrown to the wolves.
He walked to the crease under the Adelaide Oval lights to face a pink ball being rocketed down by Proteas paceman Kagiso Rabada. Maddinson saw out 11 deliveries before a Rabada yorker sent his stumps flying, out for a duck.
Maddinson was given two more Tests that summer, against Pakistan, and made scores of 1, 4, and 22 before being dropped.
Test cricket had chewed him up and spat him out. He had just turned 25 years old, but his cards were seemingly marked.
Maddinson went back to state cricket and spent years in Test exile, despite some outstanding Shield returns for the Blues and then Victoria, where he moved in 2018. There were periods when he was averaging above 50 runs a knock against the red ball - figures that should almost guarantee a batter a crack at Test level.
He battled physical injuries, mental health issues, and then testicular cancer, which halted his career at different times and effectively quashed any hope he had of another shot at the game’s biggest arena.
A young Nic Maddinson (left) in the Test team alongside Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, and Matt Renshaw. Getty
But then, out of the blue and to everyone’s surprise bar the selection panel, his Test career was suddenly revived.
And just as they had done a decade earlier, national selectors completely barbecued him and hung the now-NSW captain out to dry.
Maddinson, now 34 years old, had not faced a red ball in professional cricket for more than a year and a half before being flown to South Africa on the eve of this current Test series.
His return innings was painful to watch, scratching around for 33 balls before being dismissed for a duck. It looked like a batter who hadn’t played first-class cricket in 18 months, asked to open the batting against the world’s No.2 ranked Test team.
What did they expect?
His knock in the second innings, when belting a classy 48 off 38 deliveries, brought back memories of that younger Maddinson and his superb ball-striking ability.
But meagre returns of 0 (off four deliveries) and 8 (off 10) in the second Test now put Maddinson in serious danger of being axed for the series decider in Cape Town.
If that happens, the Aussie selectors should hang their heads in shame. Not just for the bizarre left-field pick that made little sense to begin with, but for hanging Maddinson out to dry for a second time.
They set him up to fail, twice.
For a player who was once flagged as a potential generational talent, Maddinson’s ledger may forever read five Test matches for a miserable average of 10.37. While the player must, of course, cop some of the blame for those failings, selectors should also be well and truly under the microscope.
Maddinson is far from the only player to have been dudded by puzzling selection calls in recent times.
A teenage Sam Konstas was brought in for a whirlwind debut against India, only to then be snubbed for a tour of Sri Lanka where he had the chance to stake his claim as a long-term opener.
Nathan McSweeney, too, was thrown to the wolves of Jasprit Bumrah and his Indian teammates only to be axed and not seen again. Konstas and McSweeney were two of several Aus A batters overlooked when Maddinson was parachuted into the Test squad this month.
And Jake Weatherald was handed a national contract earlier this year, only to be dropped after one Test against Bangladesh. He, too, was overlooked in favour of Maddinson for this series.
When is the revolving door of Aussie top-order batters going to be switched off?
“We’ve been messing around with the top order for the last couple of years, and it hasn’t worked, so they’ve got to pick and stick now,” Aussie legend Steve Waugh told The Sydney Morning Herald last week.
If the musical chairs continue, Australia risks young talent like Konstas going the same sad way as Maddinson.
