Maddinson in a much more calmer headspace after cancer battle and is unfazed if he never plays for Australia again.
After conquering a terrifying fight with cancer, Nic Maddinson is happy to be enjoying his cricket as much as ever and is unconcerned if he never plays for Australia again.
After receiving a testicular cancer diagnosis and going through nine weeks of chemotherapy during the most recent off-season, Maddinson’s perspective on the game he loves has significantly changed.
During his treatment, when even getting out of bed and communicating with family was difficult, cricket was the last thing on his mind.
“My son was two-and-a-half years old and just wants to play,” Maddinson told AAP. “To not be able to have the energy to do that was probably the hard thing, or not have the energy to walk up the road and take him to the playground.”
Maddinson, who had hoped for a Test recall at the start of the 2024–25 season, began this summer completing the last stages of his recovery from the dreadful disease.
Maddinson made his professional cricket comeback with the Sydney Thunder of the BBL; in his fourth game back, he scored the winning run in Monday’s thrilling victory over the Melbourne Renegades. He had been eyeing Eastern Suburbs, a grade cricket team, before that.
“It’s probably as much fun as I’ve had playing cricket for a long time,” Maddinson said. “Six months ago, just to be out on the field and playing is something I wasn’t sure could happen this quickly.”
“It’s probably just a different attitude to it all. I just want to play,” he said. “I thought I had a good opportunity at the start of last summer to try and put my hand up and it didn’t work out. Now it’s just about enjoying playing and whether I’ve got two years left or five years left, I don’t really know.
“But I’m still loving it, I’m enjoying it as much as I ever have and I’m still looking to improve. I think I’m probably better now than what I was 12 or 18 months ago as well. As long as that’s happening, I’ll keeping looking to play.”