Maddo talks Test call-up with Howie | 07:01
Courtney Walsh from Fox SportsOctober 13th, 2026 9:41 pm
Nic Maddinson was stewing, struggling to shake the disappointment that lingered for even longer than he dwelt at the crease for the painful 33-ball duck that marked his return to Test cricket in Durban this week.
It took a stinging critique from a loved one back in Byron Bay to pierce how deflated he felt and free him up to remember that for all he had been through, cricket was a game and other things mattered.
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“(It was) a phone call the next morning to home and the young fella Augie – he is almost four – and he was up watching and the first thing he said was, ‘I saw you get out’ and that ‘all the stumps fell over’,” Maddinson told Kayo Sports at Kingsmead Oval on Tuesday.
“It was really funny and that lightened the mood a little bit.
“When you are away from family, you can get caught up in a bubble sometimes and when you feel like you are under a bit of pressure from missing out in the first innings, to hear that is always nice and to realise that at the end of the day, I am just lucky to be here and (it was important to) just try to make the most of the opportunity in the second innings.”
The critique from the left-hander’s young boy was far more positive after Maddinson made a punchy 48 from just 38 balls to kickstart a second innings of impressive intent from Australia in the first Test of the series against South Africa.
Maddinson was still disappointed to lose his wicket when yorked by Anrich Nortje, clipping the stairs a couple of times with his bat on the way back to the pavilion as Steve Smith passed by without a word on the way out to the crease.
Every Ball: Maddinson’s horrific return | 03:47
And in the critique from home on Tuesday morning, Augie had noted that one thing worsened from the first innings. This time two stumps went flying! But the mood had certainly lifted in the coastal paradise and in the Australian rooms.
“Augie was pretty happy,” Maddinson said.
“I think all he cares about is when you hit sixes, so he had another bit of a laugh when two stumps fell out this time, but he was in good spirits when I spoke to him this morning. They were really excited to watch it on TV.”
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His wife Bianca, who was pregnant with their second child Wilder, put her career as a dentist on hold to care for Maddinson and “shoulder the load”, which he will be “forever grateful for”.
Much of his memories of the time are a blur.
He can remember, though, watching his old mates in the Australian team routing the West Indies 15 months ago in the middle of the night when his body clock was out of whack.
Those who know Maddinson, who has long been a popular figure in cricket from his junior days through stints with Victoria and his native New South Wales, were barracking for him.
He was well liked in his first coming as a Test cricketer and walking back into the Australian squad for this tour as a late replacement felt like a homecoming, he told Mark Howard for the Howie on Safari series before play on Day 5 of the Test.
He got the back out just before Christmas last year, just shy of nine years after his last appearance for Australia in the Boxing Day Test.
But the call from Cricket Australia’s selection panel surprised him as much as it did many others. But it was an offer too good to refuse. And the days after were a mad scramble.
In the space of 72 hours he went from playing hallway cricket with Augie in Byron Bay to dashing back to Sydney to grab his passport and Baggy Green for a dash to Potchefstroom.
“It was obviously a surprising call to get. I spoke to George and then 24 to 48 hours later, I was on the plane,” Maddinson said.
“It all happened pretty quickly and I was just going about my business, just preparing for another Shield game, and then got the call. It is obviously one that I was really excited for and as shocked as I was, I am really happy to be here and to be involved again.”
Maddinson’s stumps splatter, out for 48 | 00:36
Maddinson had thought his time representing Australia in the traditional form of the game was over after making 27 runs in three Tests a decade ago when unable to crack a game when in peak form at domestic level a few seasons back.
“Probably not at this age,” he said when asked if he thought his chance had gone.
“I think when I was down in Melbourne, I was called upon to be a replacement player, or you are on standby for a few tours, and when that passed and I missed that opportunity.
“(And) I think the start of the Shield year when I moved back to NSW and had a pretty lean start to the year when I thought there was maybe a position there, I thought it was probably something that would not happen again.
“I am super grateful to be here. It was a bit of a mad dash the day after to get the passport and get my hat from home, but having it sit in the locker there every time you walk into the changeroom to have a look at it and pull it on in the field (is great).
“This group as well, it has obviously been well documented, the age of the squad, but it (features) a lot of guys I have played with for the whole of my career.
“In my under-19s team, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc opened the bowling as well, so that is always nice to come into a group that you are familiar with.”
He carried the drinks in the warm-up game but was already aware he would be playing a Test for Australia for the first time since making 22 against Pakistan at the MCG in 2016. They were not flying him to South Africa to be a reserve fielder.
Importantly he middled most, and the whip-cracking sound from the bat when he made contact suggested his timing was spot on.
But similarly to Matt Renshaw, who has played the Test of a lifetime in Durban, he was not aware that he would be opening until a day earlier and said it was a testing experience in the sweaty conditions in the coastal city. And he struggled badly.
“It was obviously a tough start,” he said.
“Marco Jansen is a tall left-armer and the ball was seaming a bit, so it is always a challenge at the top of the order. But I was disappointed with how it played out. I missed a few off my pads, a few cut shots and then you get stuck down that end. The result was not great.
“But it was that balance – you are trying to stick to your plan but also not do anything too rash just because I had not got off the mark. I was disappointed with the lead-up and a couple of balls I should have scored off, but that is cricket.
“I have been playing long enough to know that it doesn’t always go to plan and it was just about settling down in the field. The game slowed down and then it was about trying to make the most of the second innings.”
Maddinson exposes selectors ‘gamble’ | 01:18
Maddinson had tried to avoid the furore that unfolded after he was plucked from the blue, with former great Matthew Hayden teeing off on selectors, and then the critiques that followed the laborious duck that felt like watching a car crash unfolding in slow motion.
The criticism was not directed towards him. It was Bailey and the selection panel copping the heat. What about the rest of the Shield players? Had they set him up to fail?
But in the days of ever-present connection, Maddinson was aware of the chatter and even if he had not been, there was that disappointment from the first innings duck that he was stewing on.
“It is pretty hard to avoid in this day and age,” he said.
“I stayed off my phone as much as I could, to be honest, and just tried to go about preparing. (But) I had heard whispers.”
When he strode out to the crease on Saturday evening, his stomach was churning. He was desperate for one thing. The feel of bat on ball. Anything to get off the mark! And he did so with a flourish when pulling Jansen to the boundary for four.
“I think I went out there and thought, ‘I just have to get bat on this, wherever it is’ and luckily I was able to get a bit of a loosener first up from the big fella who was a bit tight and tried to get a bumper to loosen things up, which was a huge relief to me,” Maddinson said.
“There were probably some negative comments around but most of the support I got from guys within the squad, within state cricket and friends and family as well, it has all been super positive.
“That is what I tried to take out there and just relax a bit. I have done it (for) a long time. It is just about bringing it into place at this level.”
Source: www.foxsports.com.au
