Maddinson, 33, has played three Tests and six T20Is for Australia, but had been absent from the New South Wales set-up in the early part of the season and revealed he had been fighting a private battle since April and has only just resumed full training after undergoing surgery and nine weeks of chemotherapy.
The left-hand batter played his last match for New South Wales in early March but was dropped for the final Sheffield Shield match of the 2024-25 season. Having felt rundown with what he thought was a virus, he mentioned to New South Wales doctor John Orchard in his post-season review that he had felt a lump.
Scans revealed a tumour and he had surgery immediately to remove it. But further tests seven weeks later showed the cancer had spread.
“I was taking types of steroids to manage side effects, but they would keep me up at night”
Nic Maddinson
“Once I found out I had to have chemo, that was pretty hard to deal with,” Maddinson told the Nine Newspapers. “It had spread to parts of my abdominal lymph nodes and lung. That was a bit where it was pretty daunting.”
Maddinson’s wife Bianca was also pregnant with their second child when he began chemotherapy and had to quit her job as a dentist to look after their toddler son while Maddinson underwent treatment.
“By the second or third week, I lost all my hair. I was feeling pretty average,” Maddinson said. “I was taking types of steroids to manage side effects, but they would keep me up at night. I’d be at the hospital from about 11am to 4pm. Then a sleep. Then I’d force myself to have dinner. I’d sleep until about 1am, but sometimes I’d then be awake until 6am. I found that difficult. I was super drained and felt like I had to sleep 24/7.
“I felt guilty. I couldn’t do anything around the house.”
Maddinson told very few of his team-mates, with his close friend Adam Zampa being one exception.
“My recent tests were all good, and I can go about getting back into cricket, which I love”
Nic Maddinson
The left-hand batter completed his chemotherapy on July 14. Ten days later, he had his first hit in the nets. He had to wait another two months before he was cleared to resume full training.
“Eight weeks after my last chemo round, I got good news. The treatment had worked,” Maddinson said. “My recent tests were all good, and I can go about getting back into cricket, which I love.”
He is continuing to build up his fitness but is likely to be available to play Sydney premier cricket and possibly second XI for New South Wales in the coming weeks with an eye to possibly returning to the Shield team in November.
“I would still love to play Test cricket again, but I’m more realistic,” Maddinson said. “The older you get, the less likely it is to happen.
“I had a really good opportunity last year and I just didn’t really grab it. I’m just really excited to try and play cricket again. I was dropped at the end of last year, so I’m not expecting to be straight back in the side.
“The most important thing would be to say I am available. That would be a nice day.”
Following the birth of his second son Wilder, he is grateful to be healthy again and has urged others to get checked it they feel something abnormal.
“When I found out I needed chemo, it hit me hard because I almost didn’t go,” Maddinson said. “I thought it would go away. To know that I caught it probably as early as I could have, and it still spread into other parts of my body, that was scary.
“I just think it’s so important if you have anything you’re worried about, get it checked out.
“It feels silly to not tell my story. If one person reads it and gets checked, I’ll be happy. I grew up in the country and a lot of people fob it off. It’s a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. Get the stuff checked out, it can make all the difference.”
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
