One of the many poignant comments Nic Maddinson made when he first revealed he had undergone treatment for cancer was how difficult it was not being able to play with his son, August.
On Friday, amid a whirlwind 72 hours in which he went from preparing to captain New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield to carrying drinks in Potchefstroom, Maddinson found himself in the hallway of his Byron Bay home playing cricket with a now three-year-old August, having dashed back to collect his baggy green and passport.
There were emotions that his dad was going away but, when he heard "South Africa", August's response was to start reeling off all the animals he knew from the country. "That was pretty cool," Maddinson said.
It has been a remarkable few days for him. Maddinson had little idea what chair of selectors George Bailey was calling about when his name popped up on his phone on Thursday evening.
"I thought maybe he was calling me to go to India on the A tour, or ask about another young player around, because I was a little bit unsure what was going on," Maddinson said. "We had a bit of a chat and obviously I didn't feel like I was that close, but still had hopes of maybe one day getting back into a Test squad. So in terms of motivation and stuff like that, it's still always been there but, yeah, definitely a bit of a surprise."
A 14-hour flight from Sydney to Johannesburg meant there were times between meals, movies and sleeping where his mind drifted to what had led him to be sitting on Flight QF63, and being potentially one injury away from adding to the three Test caps he earned in 2016.
"Probably still in shock for most of it," he said. "But tried not to get too far ahead of myself and didn't think too much about what the possibility might be."
In 2018, less than two years after his previous Tests, Maddinson was delisted by New South Wales and moved to Victoria, who were coached by Andrew McDonald, without the promise of a state contract. There was a five-year stretch in which he averaged over 50 in the Sheffield Shield, featured for Australia A, but also suffered a broken arm and an ACL injury. Then he returned to NSW where runs dried up before there was an even bigger battle to face.
"I think in life in general it's probably a bit more well-rounded," he said of his mindset about the game. "I feel like the balance in my life is in a really good place with family and where cricket sits amongst that as well. I wasn't too nervous about coming into this environment this time around. That probably speaks a bit about the players involved and the coaches. Coming here wasn't something that was too daunting. Excited to come back, as surprising as it is, [and] to make the most of this experience."
One inescapable fact, however, is that Maddinson hasn't played a first-class game since March 2025 in what was his first season back at NSW. It ended with him being dropped for the final Sheffield Shield match after a lean campaign in which he averaged 17.80. He was fatigued before the end of the season, prior to his cancer diagnosis, but doesn't know how long it may have had an impact on his performance.
"I don't think it was a reason for not scoring runs either," he said. "It's one of those tricky ones…it's like you're batting really well, there were probably two or three moments in that season where I made a really nice 20 and then missed out, or did some hard work and got out pretty cheaply. [There were] moments in that season where I felt like I was so close to cracking through. Then you look back on it and you average 20 or less for the year, and it didn't actually feel as bad as that. That's kind of where that season was but, it's hard to really know I guess."
In January, Maddinson played five BBL games for Sydney Thunder and conceded he was perhaps not quite as ready for the rigours of professional cricket as he thought after his treatment, but a recent pre-season focused on fitness has left him confident of being able to cope with the intensity of red-ball cricket, even though the jump to Test cricket will be huge should it arrive.
He played a series of multi-day practice matches prior to the start of the domestic season and made 126 off 127 balls in the One-Day Cup against Victoria late last month, admitting he wasn't sure how long it was since he had batted that long: the answer in professional cricket is November 2024.
"I came back into pre-season training probably better than what I would have been in any stage in the last few years. So confident in how my health and everything is at the moment," he said. "Obviously I haven't played a four-day game for a little while, but in terms of the physical side of it I'm not too worried, once you get into it you adapt and I probably won't know until an opportunity comes."
And despite the 19-month gap in his first-class career, Maddinson believes the strides he had made in his game up to 2024 will hold him in good stead should he be called upon to face South Africa over the next few weeks.
"I don't think I ride the ups and downs as much," he said. "Probably a lot more confident in the way I want to play, whether at times that can be absorbing pressure and other times it's trying to put pressure back on. I think I've probably just learnt the moments in the game where you can switch between the two and probably just [have] more security in the way I want to go about the game and not worrying about the end result. Just having fun playing and enjoying being on the middle.
"When I left Victoria I'd had a really strong five years and I probably felt quite close [to a recall] going into that first summer back with the Blues, but just didn't really take opportunities at the start of the year. That was probably the closest I'd been for a long time … but at the moment it's like all that hard work, and all the advantage you get then, still counts for something and gives me the confidence of being in this group and feeling like I could play a role if needed."