Mackay: Matt Renshaw was still in something of a daze as he picked up his bags to resume life as a Test cricketer, a decade after being a “little baby” in the national team.
Renshaw was at home in Brisbane with his wife Josie and their two young children on Monday night when the call came from selection chair George Bailey, telling him to get ready to join Australia as they try to overturn a surprise defeat by Bangladesh in Darwin.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, so when the name came up on my phone I was quite surprised,” Renshaw, 30, told this masthead.
“I look back at photos of myself 10 years ago and see a little baby playing Test cricket. It was pretty crazy, but hopefully this time getting the opportunity, I’ll be in a lot better mindset and a lot better frame.”
Despite being part of the 19-man training squad in Brisbane for six weeks leading up to the first Test, Renshaw had no inkling he was about to be returned to the top of the order, particularly given that Jake Weatherald had beaten him to a Cricket Australia contract.
“It was amazing preparation for me to get better,” he said. “That’s how I tried to use those couple of weeks, try to get better getting to face some of the best bowlers in the world three times a week was pretty cool. That’s all I saw it as, and fortunately I’m here now.”
Renshaw expects to open the batting opposite Travis Head, but also has a raft of recent experience batting in numerous different positions, not least in Bangladesh in a white-ball series earlier this year.
“I love opening,” Renshaw said. “I love the satisfaction that it brings when you perform after opening, but I feel like it’s held me in good stead doing it all around the order.
“The white-ball stuff’s given me a different mindset and a little bit of freedom to express myself, to be able to bat and learn different things. Time down the middle order for Queensland gave me a bit more confidence as well.”
It was against Bangladesh in 2017 that Renshaw ended his first stint in the Test side. Based on the numbers alone, it was a harsh call at the time, but having grown much as a person and a cricketer since, Renshaw feels well grounded for his chance to become Usman Khawaja’s long-term replacement at the top.
“I know if Renshaw is picked that he is in the best space right now to have a crack at Australia again and be ready to score runs,” Khawaja said of Renshaw last summer. “Obviously, I am a little bit biased because he is my opening partner [for Queensland] and a friend of mine, but he’s been there and done it. He has scored 184 for Australia.
“He has been in and out of the Australian team, and it allows you to grow, as I know from experience. It allows you to learn from experiences when you get the opportunity again. Whenever Rennie gets his chance … I know he will be ready.”
Renshaw has derived plenty from Khawaja, whether it’s cutting down on his cricket media consumption or choices of bats and shoes. In batting terms, Renshaw now has a lot more gears than the stodgy young player who grinded out scores against South Africa, Pakistan and India.
But he has retained an opener’s classical ability to recognise a tough session and play accordingly for his team, something Khawaja did well. Australia’s failure to do that in either innings of the Darwin Test is ultimately what cost Weatherald, and also has Marnus Labuschagne on the selection precipice.
A little bit of local knowledge will not go astray. Renshaw cuffed centuries in each of his two Sheffield Shield appearances for Queensland in Mackay.
Personal development has also helped, whether in his home life or greater maturity around cricket teams.
“I’ve got two kids now, so I can’t really say I’m a kid any more,” he quipped. “ I have a lot better understanding of my life and what’s important to me and how I’m going to go about things. So hopefully, it brings me a newfound sense of freedom.
“I’ve evolved hugely as a person. As a cricketer, there’s things I look back on and go ‘geez, I was a terrible player’, but then I also look back and go ‘that would be nice to have’, so you definitely evolve.”
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.