19 year old boy Larry brushes aside the removal of a cyst to return to work in Downing Street. In 2 years’ time, should he still be there, Larry is on track to become the longest serving Chief Mouser, surpassing the tenure of Peter III (1947-1964).
Cricinfo article: “Bailey: Maddinson call-up is not disrespectful to first-class cricket”
The anticipation of a turning Durban pitch and the probable absence of two of their most versatile players to injury (Green and Inglis) were the major factors behind Nic Maddinson's bolt from the blue to South Africa, according to chief selector George Bailey.
“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… 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."
From December 2018 to March 2024, Maddinson averaged 52.37 in the Sheffield Shield. 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”. He endured a lean 2025-26 season after returning to his native NSW averaging 17.80, although he was impacted by fatigue understood to be related to his subsequent cancer diagnosis. But 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: “He's a player that, when he's been at his best, I think his cricket ability stacks up as well as anyone”.
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): “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.”
Cameron Green's lower abdominal strain, 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.
After selectors decided they would need two separate players to come in, 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 (can) also can do it in the middle and is a very strong player of spin.”
A week out from the first Test, Green was limited to walking slow laps around the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom, bouncing a Sherrin, and was observed not being comfortable as he collected a ball. Greeny was expected to resume bowling in the upcoming 2-day tour match against a Cricket South Africa Invitational XI starting on Saturday. But now, he would appear in doubt to play at all in the South Africa Tests, where he was set 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. "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.
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.
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.
Bailey confirmed Mitch Marsh, who has retired from domestic red-ball cricket, would have been in contention for a Test comeback had he not been committed to heading home after the ODIs due to the pending birth of his second child. While selectors had also considered Kurtis Patterson, if he had not suffered an untimely groin injury while fielding for NSW. Over the past three Shield seasons, the only players to average above 40 who are not in the Test squad are Patterson, the recently-dropped Jake Weatherald and Jason Sangha who is playing for Australia A. 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 also hardly banged the door down.
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: "l'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 (navigating) how difficult it is to play over there.'
Maddinson, who is flying out on Saturday morning, is not expected to arrive in time for the tour match which also starts on Saturday (evening, Australian time), and will instead join the squad in Durban. Sam Harper - whose first call-up to a Test squad to replace Inglis would ordinarily have been headline-grabbing in itself - departed India on Friday, and is more likely to play in the tour game.
Australia are set to firmly dictate the terms in their tour match, having already chosen to bowl first, while Bailey confirmed bowlers’ workloads would be carefully managed and Australia could be permitted to rotate batters through multiple times.
Their opponents, the CSA Invitational XI, will feature Neil Brand and Lesego Senokwane as the only two internationally capped players in their 13-man squad.
Injuries are piling up for the lads after the ODIs ahead of the South Africa Tests with no replacements for anyone named yet.
Injury list from Australia’s ODI tours: Green (unconfirmed groin), Renshaw (unconfirmed wrist), Josh Inglis (broken finger), Nathan Ellis (side strain), Jack Edwards (hamstring), Joel Davies (hamstring) and Billy Stanlake (from Zimbabwe).
Domestically, Kurtis Patterson who would be in line for a potential Test call up suffered an undisclosed fielding injury in the One Day Cup with no timeline yet for a playing return and Aaron Hardie was ruled out with a knee issue for Australia A in India
Cricinfo version: https://www.cricinfo.com/story/zim-vs-aus-richard-ngarava-ruled-out-sikandar-raza-takes-charge-for-australia-odis-1554042
For those complaining about our ageing Test side, spare a thought for the Chevrons who’ve picked 4 guys aged 40+ in their ODI squad!
Also, a frustratingly disingenuous detail in both articles is it’s “Australia’s first visit to Zimbabwe in 12 years”, when we visited for T20Is in 2018 and that tour was famous for Finchy beating his own world record smashing 172*. True we haven’t toured for ODIs in 12 years, but inaccurate to say we haven’t been there for 12 years!!
Former Queensland coach and ex-🇿🇦 spinner Johan Botha has also been recruited as a temporary spin bowling consultant for this season
Moises joins the elite club of players who have scored hundreds in all formats of the game.
Portugal 🇵🇹 have now topped their group in the Sub Regional Qualifiers and face Spain 🇪🇸 in the Sub-Regional Qualifier final. The winner of that final goes through to a Regional Final competition in 2027 between 4 teams (Scotland, Jersey, Denmark and Spain or Portugal), where the top 2 of those based on results will qualify directly for the 2028 World Cup.