When Matt Renshaw landed in South Africa, he was expecting to open the innings in the three-Test series. But then Nic Maddinson was chosen to accompany Travis Head in the first two Tests before being dropped for the decider. In the first Test at Kingsmead, Renshaw batted at No.5 and scored 190 & 82. His century in the first innings was his first in 10 years. But then in the second Test at Gqeberha, his batting position was changed, not just once but twice. In the first innings, he batted at No.6 and scored 12; in the second, he batted at No.4 and scored 11.
For the decider, after Australia made three changes as Cameron Green and Josh Inglis returned from injuries, Renshaw was sent up the order to the opening spot. It was his fourth batting position since the beginning of the series. But not bothered about that, the 30-year-old made a fantastic 74. He added 58 with Head for the first wicket and then 126 with Inglis for the third wicket. By the end of Day 2, Australia (330/4) had overtaken South Africa’s 329, and Renshaw played his part to a tee in that effort. The left-hander spoke about his performance with the bat at a new position.
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“I think as long as I keep trusting what I’m trying to do, seeing that opening is a challenge that I’m looking forward to. I’ve done it my whole career, so it’s not like I’ve never opened the batting,” Renshaw said after the day’s play.
{{/usCountry}}“I think as long as I keep trusting what I’m trying to do, seeing that opening is a challenge that I’m looking forward to. I’ve done it my whole career, so it’s not like I’ve never opened the batting,” Renshaw said after the day’s play.
{{/usCountry}}“I came here thinking that I was going to open the batting for three Tests, and fortunately I had a little bit of a sleep-in at five, and now coming back to opening, it was just about trying to be really positive and trusting that the stuff I did in the first two Tests could relate to opening the batting,” he added.
‘Just sticking to our processes'
After winning the first Test by 214 runs, the Aussies came a cropper in the second, and lost it by an innings and 31 runs. Proteas pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen were particularly lethal for them. Renshaw revealed what the Aussie plan was for the day. “It was just sticking to our processes as long as possible. We know that we knew that they were going to come hard through periods, and it was just about building partnerships,” he said.
“We’ve sort of hinted at some partnerships over the first two Tests, probably more so with the bowlers, so it was just about the batters trying to build some partnerships out there, and fortunately today we had a couple of good ones,” he added.