Versatile Inglis treads all-format path to Test success

There was outrage in some quarters when Nic Maddinson was picked in the Test team last month having not played in the Sheffield Shield for 19 months. There was no equivalent reaction when Josh Inglis was recalled for this week's contest having played only two more Shield matches over the same period.

Indeed, the only other first-class games Inglis had played at all since his debut Test series in Sri Lanka in early-2025 were Tests in Barbados, Brisbane and Adelaide. 

Over those 20 months between his first Test hundred in Galle and his dazzling second at Newlands, Inglis played 25 T20 Internationals, 17 ODIs, 16 IPL games and five BBL matches. 

All told, less than 20 per cent of the 1,447 deliveries he faced in professional cricket in that time were against a red ball. Only one of his nine first-class innings lasted longer than an hour. He had not played a first-class game in seven months before his recall for this deciding Test against South Africa.

Whether it is an endorsement of the white-to-red-ball pipeline some see as necessary to cope with the current cricket landscape, or just a sign of Inglis' rare malleability, his Cape Town ton was a model display of modern Test match batting.

Gratefully for a middle-order operating without its maestro in Steve Smith, it unlocked Australia's most pleasing batting performance of the series. 

When Wiaan Mulder attempted to frustrate Inglis as he had done to several Aussies in Gqeberha with straight bowling and an umbrella field, the right-hander patiently saw him out in scoring nine off 30 balls. 

Having milked Simon Harmer through the early stages of his innings, he then took him on in day two's final session – most notably using swift feet to power him over mid-wicket – as the Proteas unsuccessfully tried to enforce a holding period. He then flayed their tiring quicks, the second new ball pinging off his bat to the boundary.

Batting with a broken finger and after "not ideal preparation" after his late inclusion for Smith, Inglis nailed his Test-match tempo. "It didn't feel like it at times," he said, smiling, after his 102 underpinned Australia's 429 that now has them eyeing a series-deciding victory. 

"I think when I came in with 'Kezza' (Alex Carey), it sort of felt like old Test match cricket – attritional. The ball was a bit softer, and they sort of had a ring field, and it felt quite tough to score. 

"So I probably wasn't hitting the ball as I'd like, but I knew I just needed to hang in there. There was no reason to try push on or press on. 

"Our partnership was building really nicely, and then I just saw an opportunity before that second new ball when the spin was on to be able to play a few shots and get some boundaries away. 

"Then the new ball felt quite nice last night. It did a little bit, but it was obviously harder, and the field's were up. I felt pretty good."

For selectors, where a rusty-looking Maddinson fizzled, their belief in Inglis now looks as shrewd as Matthew Renshaw's move to No.5 in Durban. 

In time their faith in Cooper Connolly, who looked composed batting with the tail for nearly two hours in his first Test knock back since his own debut in Sri Lanka last year, could prove similarly well placed after his own diet of white-ball cricket.

The stocks of both Inglis and Connolly soared during last year's Indian Premier League, performances in which Australia's leaders rate highly. While Connolly's development is understandably further behind his fellow Western Australian who is six years his senior, Inglis looks to have reaped the benefits of repeatedly facing the world's best bowlers in packed stadiums. 

"Maybe," he said when that was put to him at stumps on day three, warming to the notion after initially grinning at the suggestion the fast-paced short-form league could have aided his long-form batting.

"The IPL is a high-pressure tournament. It's a lot of fun. I love playing over there. I'm not sure whether it's helped my Test cricket, but in terms of just playing at the international level, yeah, potentially."

Inglis' uniqueness as an all-format prospect is underscored by his neat tally of international hundreds – two in T20Is, two in ODIs, and now two in Tests – which makes him the first Australian to have multiple tons in all three formats. It's a feat only 11 other men have achieved globally. 

Those six tons have all come in different countries, too. Having played what he termed a "white ball-ish" innings on a Galle turner on Test debut last year, Inglis prospered in far different conditions here.

In the 50-over arena, his 103 against Zimbabwe in Harare last month came after a dominating unbeaten 120 against England during last year's Champions Trophy. In T20Is, there have been rapid hundreds in Edinburgh and Vizag. 

Tellingly for the fleet-footed, rubber-wristed right-hander who was born in Leeds and raised in Perth, none have yet come in Australia. Few would bet against that changing this summer. 

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: Australia won by 214 runs

Second Test: South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster