Maddinson finds groove as Bushranger

It would be easy to knock NSW cricket for its unceremonious axing of Nic Maddinson 18 months after his Test debut.

Nic Maddinson bats for the Bushrangers at the MCG.

It would be easy to knock NSW cricket for its unceremonious axing of Nic Maddinson 18 months after his Test debut and weeks after he’d been crowned their one-day player of the year.

The decision was brave in isolation, but seemed absolutely foolhardy in retrospect after the talented batter waddled off to Victoria where he scored three centuries and more runs from five first-class matches that summer than he had in the previous eight seasons for the Blues.

“Nic is a mercurial talent who has played Test cricket but he lacked consistency for the Blues at Sheffield Shield level, averaging under 33 across the past eight seasons,” Cricket NSW general manager of cricket performance David Moore said at the time.

That Maddinson, 30, has gone from strength to strength at his new home on the other side of the Murray River would appear to add further credence to the view it was a mistake to let him go.

The player admits it was a shock, but he had become bogged down at the Blues and both needed a break from the other.

While he has continued to peel off impressive performances for the Bushrangers, he had passed 50 only once in the last three innings at his previous home.

“Everyone had seen me come through as a 15-year-old coming into the system at NSW and a lot of the opinions about how I played and who I was as a person stayed the same, where I felt I was a different batsman and person as well,” Maddinson told the Weekend Australian.

“I probably needed to get out of that environment, have some different challenges. I had been there for seven or eight seasons.

“My game had halted a little bit and when I lost my contract I wasn’t progressing. I had to look at where I was at and what I wanted to achieve and go about my cricket a bit different.

“It was almost like starting fresh, it was nice to come in fresh to a different environment and be able to choose how I do things.”

Victoria offered Maddinson a new opportunity and took a fresh approach to his talent.

“One of the first things I was told by Aaron Finch and Andrew McDonald when I came down was it doesn’t matter how you get out, caught at mid off and caught at first slip are the same thing so find a way to score runs between that because that’s your job,” he said.

“That gave me the confidence to play the way I wanted to play and I was going to be well supported in that.”

Maddinson started his new life without a state contract and found himself training with St Kilda and the Victorian second XI before he got his chance.

“The only reason I played a Shield game was Marcus Harris was playing so well he got picked for the Test series,” he explained.

Maddinson made three centuries in his first three Shield games, a run interrupted by a broken arm but an average of 80 that season and 75 the following one proved the move was worthwhile.

Maddinson had a hiccup last summer and worked hard on changes to his game in the off season before realising the problem was more mental than technical.

“In terms of off-field stuff it was learning with how to deal with being a cricketer, how to escape the game and engage with other aspects of life,” he said.

“We were in lockdown basically all last year and training and cricket was all you could do to get out of the house.

“You become a bit consumed by it living in the Big Bash hub and the Shield hub all the way through until February so I learnt how to prioritise a few other things away from the game.”

A century in the most recent Sheffield Shield clash against NSW and an 87 in the previous match suggest he has worked it out again.

Maddinson has been invited up to the Test space as part of the warm-up game before the Ashes.

He says he has never given up the desire to have another crack at the format and hopes he is more ready than he was when he got the opportunity in 2016.

“At the time obviously you feel you are ready to play. I’d had a great one-day series at the start of that year, scored a hundred in the Shield game,” he said.

“They’d had a bad loss in Hobart and were due to make a change and sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time.

“I had plenty of opportunities while I was there to put a score on the board. The one in Melbourne is the one that hurts the most.

“I got 20 off 60 balls then played a pretty shit shot to the spinner and got out.”