Nic Maddinson

Early life and cricket

Born on 21 December 1991 in Nowra, New South Wales, Maddinson was part of the New South Wales Under-19 side that won the Australian Under-19 Championships in December 2009. Two months earlier, he had topped the batting averages for Australia in a home series against Sri Lanka Under-19s, when he averaged 72 and scored a 133 not out at a run-a-ball, in a 50-over match in Darwin.

Maddinson used these performances to get selected for the Australian Under-19 side that flew to New Zealand to compete in the ICC U19 World Cup in January 2010. During the tournament, Maddinson opened the batting for Australia and was part of the victorious side that defeated Pakistan by 25 runs in the final at Lincoln, to lift the trophy.

Club cricket

Maddinson also had an excellent season in 2009/10 with the Sutherland District Cricket Club, where he scored 604 runs for the year at an average of 46.46. He scored two centuries but none was more vital than his 137 in the semi-final against Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club that helped Sutherland reach the Grand Final, where they eventually lost to St George Cricket Club. On several occasions he opened the batting with New South Wales opener Phil Jaques. A handy left-arm orthodox spinner who was good enough to take 12 First Grade wickets in various competitions throughout the year, Maddinson took a match-winning 5-95 against Easts in the semi-final.

First class cricket

On 11 October 2011, Maddinson achieved a memorable feat by becoming the youngest ever player for New South Wales to score a century on his First Class debut. Maddinson scored 113 versus South Australia at Adelaide Oval aged 18 years and 294 days. The previous record was held by the legendary Arthur Morris who scored 148 v Qld at the SCG on 26 December 1940, aged 18 years and 342 days. He also becomes the fourth youngest player to score a First Class century for NSW with only Archie Jackson, Ian Craig and Doug Walters being younger.

IPL

Maddinson made his IPL debut in 2014 playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made scores of 4 and 12 against Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians respectively after opening the innings for RCB. Later, Maddinson was ruled out of IPL due to an injury.

Big Bash

In the 2014–15 Big Bash League season final, Maddinson's Sydney Sixers lost to the Perth Scorchers on the final ball. Maddinson contributed to his side's total with the bat with a handy 19 off 22 balls with two fours. Maddison fielded the final ball with a perfect throw over the stumps only to be fumbled by the Sixers' captain Henriques, missing the opportunity to run out Arafat and compete in a super over. In the 2014/15 KFC T20 Big Bash, when Sydney Sixers captain, Moises Henriques was injured, Maddison replaced him as captain briefly. He is the only Sydney Sixers captain to never lose a match.

International career

As a 19-year-old, Maddinson was selected in both the one-day and four-day Australia A squads for the tour of Zimbabwe which was held in June–July 2011. Australia A played a one-day tri-series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa, before finishing with two four-day matches against the host. Maddinson played in three of one-day games, but was not selected in either of the first-class games.

Maddinson made his full international Twenty20 debut for Australia against India at Rajkot in October 2013. He scored 34 off 16 balls. He managed only 4 runs in his second T20I match, playing against South Africa at Stadium Australia, in Sydney, in November 2014.

In November 2016, Maddinson was added to Australia's Test team ahead of the third Test against South Africa; he made his Test debut on 24 November 2016. His baggy green cap was presented by Simon Katich. He played in three Tests during the summer batting at number six, making a duck on debut against South Africa and then scores of 1, 4 and 22 in three innings against Pakistan before being dropped for the final Test of the summer.