{"id":941980,"date":"2026-10-26T21:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941980\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T21:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:54:13","slug":"cricket-world-blasts-aussie-farce-after-two-players-sent-home-immediately-from-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941980\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket world blasts Aussie farce after two players sent home immediately from South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie cricket<\/a> fans have been left dumbfounded after the selectors opted to to send Nic Maddinson<\/a> and Sam Harper home ahead of the third and final Test against South Africa. This comes as reports suggest Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> will feature in the Aussie XI for the second Test with Scott Boland<\/a> tipped to miss out.<\/p>\n

There is mounting pressure on chief selector George Bailey of the Australian national team after some baffling decisions, and non-calls, in recent years. And the latest debacle in South Africa has prompted a strong reaction. Maddinson and Harper’s tour came to an abrupt end after both were released from the squad and sent home ahead of the Cape Town decider.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Maddinson’s selection in the squad raised eyebrows ahead of the series with his limited time playing against the red ball across the last 12 months a concern. He was then catapulted to opener where he struggled with scores of 0, 48, 4 and 8.<\/p>\n

Many felt for Maddinson having been thrown into the XI to play a role he was not accustomed to in red-ball cricket. He will now be sent home ahead of the decider with Matt Renshaw expected to move up the order.<\/p>\n

And Harper will also be sent home without facing a ball. Harper has been in great form in the Sheffield Shield and also backed it up for Australia A recently. Although the wicketkeeper\/batter didn’t feature for Australia in South Africa and will go back to play domestic cricket without featuring in the series.<\/p>\n

\"Marnus<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne (pictured far left) is set to retain his place in the Aussie XI. (Photo by Ayush Kumar\/Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Bailey defended the selections and said Maddinson allowed them to set-up how they wanted for the two Test matches. “Performance wise, would you like more runs? Yes, so that’s OK,” chief selector Bailey said.<\/p>\n

“Did it allow us to set the rest of the team up the way we wanted to, whilst we were working with the group we had? Yes We always talk about what do we see when we see players at our best. I think we saw a glimpse of that in the second innings in Durban. With him going home, we wanted to be clear to him he wasn’t a stop-gap. The same reasons and process we worked through to get him here will be the same questions we ask across the whole summer.”<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschange to hold place in Aussie XI<\/p>\n

The decision to send both Maddinson and Harper home has also coincided with reports Labuschagne will remain in the XI. Labuschagne’s place in the side has been the biggest talking point this series. The No.3 has struggled for runs across the last couple of years and has struggled once again in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Many felt the second Test would be his last with Josh Inglis and Cameron Green both coming into the side. Although SEN reporter Tom Morris has revealed Labuschagne will remain at No.3 with Inglis missing out.<\/p>\n

In another shock, Cooper Connelly has been selected over Inglis to take Beau Webster’s place in the middle order. Green will return to the side, pushing Renshaw up the order.<\/p>\n

\"Nic<\/p>\n

Nic Maddinson (pictured) has been released from the Test squad. (Photo by Marco Longari \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Cricket fans take aim at Test selections<\/p>\n

Cricket fans have been left bewildered at the selections for the third Test. After feeling for Maddinson and Harper, fans can’t believe Boland has been left out of the side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie cricket fans have been left dumbfounded after the selectors opted to to send Nic Maddinson and Sam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-941980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}