The anticipation of a turning Durban pitch and the probable absence of two of their most versatile players to injury were the major factors behind Nic Maddinson’s bolt from the blue to South Africa, according to selection boss George Bailey.
Bailey also insisted the left-field pick of Maddinson, who has not played a first-class game in 20 months due to his recovery from testicular cancer treatment, was not “disrespectful to state cricket” amid grumblings of discontent at domestic level.
Cameron Green’s lower abdominal injury, unusual enough for medicos to be sent scrambling to find relevant comparisons, along with the loss of their two-in-one reserve Josh Inglis, were the triggers for one of the bigger selection shocks in recent memory.
A week out from the first Test, Green was limited to walking slow laps while bouncing a Sherrin and would appear in doubt to resume the No.5 berth he thrived in against Bangladesh.
Medical staff were still determining what his recovery timelines would be for both batting and bowling. The strain, suffered while the allrounder batted in the third ODI and coming only minutes after he had copped a ball to the bladder, adds to Green’s injury woes – he is also nursing a separate shoulder complaint that has dogged him since the Top End Tests.
Cooper Connolly shapes as a logical replacement but Bailey’s suggestion the 23-year-old is currently seen as more of a middle-order prospect, compared to Maddinson whose extensive experience both opening and batting further down won him his unexpected call-up, means that many combinations are possible.
On the eve of a low-key tour match in Potchefstroom, Bailey explained Maddinson was also brought in for his perceived strength against spin, against which he averages 47.97 in first-class cricket (per CricViz).
Flexibility and spin-play had been considered key assets of Inglis, whose fractured finger will be re-scanned in Perth next week as Australia hope he could be back for the second Test. For now, Sam Harper, fresh off his third first-class hundred in nine innings, will cover Inglis’ other duty as Alex Carey’s wicketkeeping understudy.
The Keshav Maharaj-led spin assault in Australia’s ODI defeat to the Proteas in Durban last week has only reinforced their view the Kingsmead wicket for the Test series opener could be a turner, especially given the hosts’ loss of several fast bowlers to injury.
After selectors decided they would need two separate players to come in for Inglis, Bailey said his batting replacement became a search “ultimately for who we thought had the most flexibility to be able to do something at the very top of the order … but also can do it in the middle and is a very strong player of spin.
“Not to dismiss his work against quick bowling, but I think he’s a very strong player of spin. And probably from that one-day (international) wicket, looking at their squad a little bit, I think it’s half an expectation that’s probably what we’re going to get hit with in Durban.
“I think the wicket will certainly, across the course of the Test match, will provide some reasonable turn. I wouldn’t pre-empt what they’re going to do, but their spinners obviously had some success against us through that white-ball series.”
Simon Harmer, who bowled South Africa to a stunning win in India along with Maharaj late last year, has been selected in the Proteas’ 18-player preliminary squad along with a third spinner in Senuran Muthusamy. Australia have Matthew Kuhnemann and allrounder Cooper Connolly as potential spin sidekicks for Nathan Lyon.
Bailey admitted Maddinson would have had little inkling his call-up was imminent. “We’ve been in contact probably more around just how he’s been going personally over the past 12 or 18 months,” the selector said. “But there hadn’t been a conversation with him prior to us coming away (to South Africa).”
Maddinson had firmly been on Australia’s radar through his strong stretch of form between 2018-19 and 2023-24, coinciding with a move to Melbourne, the first season of which was overseen by then Victoria (and now Australia) coach Andrew McDonald.
In that time, Maddinson also stepped away for mental health reasons, broke his arm after being hit by speedster Jhye Richardson and tore his ACL – all before his testicular cancer diagnosis. “He’s had some incredible bad luck,” said Bailey. “It just seems like the cricket world has conspired against him.”
Bailey confirmed Mitch Marsh, who has retired from domestic red-ball cricket, would have been in contention for a Test comeback had he not committed to heading home after the ODIs due to the pending birth of his second child.
Speaking about the Maddinson pick, Bailey stressed it was not a kick in the teeth for aspiring Shield batters, none of whom topped 700 runs during the regular season. Over the past three Shield seasons, the only players to average above 40 who are not in the Test squad are Jake Weatherald, Jason Sangha and Kurtis Patterson.
Other contenders like Australia A batters Nathan McSweeney (36.29 over that three-season stretch), Peter Handscomb (35.26), Sam Konstas (34.92), Campbell Kellaway (32.72), as well as recent white-ball debutant Ollie Peake (24.75), have hardly barged the door down.
“He’s a player that, when he’s been at his best, I think his cricket ability stacks up as well as anyone’s,” Bailey said of Maddinson, who averaged 50.63 in his six-season stint with the Vics before his move back to NSW and subsequent illness.
“Probably the challenge for people is to get past what he’s had to go through in the past 12 or 18 months. If people are trying to run down a 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, and the conditions we’re about to face and the moving parts that we’ve had, he was 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.
“I don’t think you can view this one and say it’s disrespectful to state cricket because he hadn’t played last year – it’s not like (Maddinson) was sitting out because he said the wickets looked green or (too) challenging.”
While Harper departed India on Friday, Maddinson was not set to fly out from Sydney until Saturday, meaning he was unlikely to arrive in time for the warm-up match and was set to link up with the Test squad in Durban instead.
One bright spot for Australia was Matthew Renshaw hitting spin throwdowns in the nets after he was cleared of any damage to his right hand following a nasty knock in the field during Wednesday’s third ODI.
But the sense of turbulence lingered as Australia’s team bus broke down after taking players and staff to play golf around 40 minutes away from NWU Oval on Friday morning, leaving the likes of Steve Smith, Beau Webster and Connolly more than an hour late to training.
Australia were set to firmly dictate the terms in their tour match beginning Saturday, having already chosen to bowl first while they could be permitted to rotate batters through multiple times.
Their opponents, a Cricket South Africa Invitational XI, will feature Neil Brand and Lesego Senokwane as the only two internationally capped players in their 13-man squad.
Brand captained South Africa in a 2024 Test against New Zealand when the Proteas controversially sent a second-string team due to their main players being obligated to feature in their own domestic T20 tournament instead.
CSA Invitational XI for tour match against Australia: Lesego Senokwane, Tladi Bokako, Neil Brand, Wilco de Bruin, Jade de Klerk, Tshepang Dithole, Jean du Plessis, CJ King, Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Jiveshan Pillay, Joshua Richards, Ntando Soni, Jorich van Schalkwyk
Qantas tour of South Africa 2026
All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket
Warm-up match: October 3-4, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 6pm AEST (10am local)
First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)
Second Test: October 18-22, St George’s Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)
Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)
South Africa’s first Test preliminary squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster