Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has launched a strong criticism of the national selection panel over Nic Maddinson’s recall for the three-Test series against South Africa, questioning the decision to bring back a batter who has not played first-class cricket since early 2025.Maddinson, 34, was added to Australia’s squad amid a mounting injury crisis ahead of the series opener in Durban on October 9. Josh Inglis has been ruled out with a finger injury, while Cameron Green remains a doubt for the first Test.However, Hayden believes the circumstances do not justify Maddinson’s return to the Test set-up, particularly given his lack of recent first-class cricket.Speaking on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast, the former 103-Test opener questioned whether Maddinson would be capable of making a significant impact if Australia called upon him during the series.“Where we are at is that we are promoting the greatest pile of mediocrity that we’ve seen in a generation of cricket,” Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.Hayden also took aim at chief selector George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, arguing that Australia should be selecting players with stronger first-class records rather than relying on batters with modest averages.“And if we continue to lay that out and expect that a bloke averaging 35 is going to average 55 in Test match cricket, George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide, you are dreaming. I will just put it that simply. You are frigging dreaming. And you are piling up this dog s*** explanation, and you are, in my opinion, disrespecting first-class cricket. Absolutely dead set you are. You should be picking guys that are averaging 45 or more, and you can’t, because they don’t want to play,” said Hayden.Maddinson has not featured in a Test since the 2016-17 home summer, when he scored just 27 runs across three matches. His first-class average of 37.11 has further fuelled the debate around his selection.His return to the squad comes after a difficult period that included treatment for testicular cancer.
Hayden questions alternative options
Hayden suggested Sam Harper could have been considered instead. The wicketkeeper-batter recently impressed on Australia A’s tour of India, where he also scored a century, before being added to the Test squad.The former opener also questioned the selection credentials of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, pointing to his limited participation in state-level red-ball cricket.Hayden argued that Marsh’s lack of Shield cricket should matter despite Australia captain Pat Cummins backing the all-rounder.“I don’t care what Pat Cummins said about Mitch – if he doesn’t want to play Shield cricket … it’s a desire to front up,” Hayden said.He further criticised the growing preference among players for franchise cricket over domestic red-ball cricket, identifying it as a wider issue for Australian cricket.“They don’t want to play this version of the game. Mitch is a good example. He is making millions of dollars playing cricket all over the world for franchises. This is the fundamental problem we have,” added Hayden.
