Australia release Maddinson, Harper; Smith faces fitness test ahead of Test series decider

Cape Town: Australia will have a new opener for the Test series decider against South Africa after Nic Maddinson and backup wicketkeeper Sam Harper were released from the squad. Meanwhile, veteran batter Steve Smith will undergo a fitness test on his troublesome neck.

Maddinson, whose recall for the tour came as a surprise, managed scores of 0, 48, 0 and 8 in his four innings in the series. He is flying back home early to turn out for New South Wales (CSW) in their Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart, which begins on Friday. His exit means Matthew Renshaw is set to partner Travis Head at the top.

Harper has also been released from the squad and will turn out for Victoria in their Shield game against Queensland at the Gabba starting on Saturday. He had been drafted in as cover after Josh Inglis fractured his finger, but Inglis has since been cleared to keep wicket should Alex Carey run into any trouble.

"We feel like it’s going to be a pretty steep progression in terms of (whether) he should be available. But if we’re surprised today, you’ll see that play out," head coach Andrew McDonald was quoted as saying by Cricinfo on Monday.

Smith picked up the neck injury during the second Test in Gqeberha. Though he is expected to be fit, it would increase the pressure on Marnus Labuschagne to retain his number three spot, with Cameron Green and Inglis also back from injury. Should Smith fail to recover in time, Labuschagne would in all likelihood play in Cape Town.

Chief Selector George Bailey acknowledged that Labuschagne had been getting starts without converting them into big scores. "I don’t know if I’ve got anything further to add than I think everyone’s said over the last (period of time). We’ve seen some good things. Is there a block at the moment around the 30s? Yes. (He’s) still contributing in terms of his ability to get through a number of balls.

“So it’s a decision around what that looks like if he gets through (to the 30s) again, what does it look like for the collective, and is it helping others around him (and) the team get a result that we ultimately want?"

Bailey also defended the decision to pick Maddinson, insisting that the left-hander’s Test career is still not over. "I think performance-wise… would you like more runs in it? Yes. So that’s okay. It did allow us to set the rest of the team up the way that we wanted whilst we were working with the group we have, yes.

"We always talk about what we see when we see players that are best. I think you saw a glimpse of that in the second innings in Durban. So there’s a message for him. With him going home, I wanted to be clear to him it wasn’t a stopgap and that’s it and it’s not a discard.

"The same reasons and process we worked through to get him to be on the table for here and ultimately to play – they’ll be the same questions that we’ll ask across the home summer to India as well."

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