What a few days it has been in the life of Matt Renshaw. His comeback to the Test team had consisted of one innings, edged to slip for eight, before he made the trip to South Africa, where his job as opener suddenly changed to batting five.
His first two days of the first Test in Durban were spent compiling his epic 190 to rescue Australia. Then came his fourth day, hammering in the nails on a declaration by top scoring again with 82. Pulling out at 316 for six, Australia set South Africa 421 to win, then took four wickets for 102 by the close; Aiden Markram on 45 will be the main obstacle to an Australian series lead on the final day.
What stood out with Renshaw was the shift in styles. His first innings was one marked by calm and accumulation, building with minimal risk. His second, with a target to set, was dynamic, regularly sweeping and reverse-sweeping, flummoxing South Africa’s keeper and slip by shaping for the reverse. Kyle Verreynne was so distracted that he let through four byes, while Markram tried to emulate Steve Smith by running across at slip, only to watch Renshaw sweep it through the gap that Markram had just created.
As Renshaw started hitting South Africa’s spinners for sixes, he was on track for the rare feat of twin centuries in a Test. It took an oddity to stop that, Keshav Maharaj fumbling the ball half a dozen times and accidentally bouncing it off his own head before holding a return catch prone on the pitch.
A strike rate of 82 in the second innings compared to 47 in the first showed Renshaw’s range, and his match tally of 272 runs was near the record by an Australian against South Africa. He finished three runs behind Phillip Hughes, after twin tons at the same ground; eight behind David Warner’s two centuries in Cape Town in 2014; and 27 runs behind Donald Bradman’s famous 299 not out, when the No 11, Pud Thurlow, was run out trying to come back for a second.
Nic Maddinson’s second innings was also a contrast to his first, following up his painful duck with 48 from 38 balls. Having thrown the bat for 17 not out the previous evening, he continued in the same vein despite Travis Head being caught off a leading edge for 11. Maddinson slashed three boundaries through the cordon, middled one through cover, and belted Simon Harmer for a straight six, before missing an equally straight yorker from Anrich Nortje, the opening bat’s back foot twitching out of the way as the low full toss arrived at pace.
His scoring rate did give Australia impetus, which was consolidated by double-figure scores throughout the order. Smith was hit in the helmet by Nortje before going on his own hitting spree, holing out down the ground for 27, optimistically trying to hit Harmer over Marco Jansen twice in one over. Marnus Labuschagne made an identical score to his first innings, 37 from 58 balls, and looked good before driving a flighted Maharaj ball to cover for Temba Bavuma’s second catch. Nortje returned to have Alex Carey edge a drive into his stumps for 24.
By then, though, the lead was 311, and it was a relative cruise as Renshaw extended it to 376 before the next pair iced the cake, Beau Webster with five fours and Pat Cummins with four sixes. The captain’s 32 from 12 balls was an emphatic end, as was declaring just before the tea break rather than bother with timing it to mess with South Africa’s openers.
The more relaxed preparation worked for Australia initially, with Josh Hazlewood extending his hold over Ryan Rickelton by having him edge a pull to the keeper on two. As in the first innings, David Bedingham put together a solid stand with Markram, and as in the first innings, fell short of a half century, leg before to Hazlewood for 46.
That was when the tone shifted. As if Renshaw’s match wasn’t already good enough, Cummins gave him a bowl late in the day, and he duly picked up Bavuma, the South African captain, at bat pad, at the same time opening the door for Cummins to have Tristan Stubbs nick a drive to Carey. At the close, South Africa needed 319 more runs, or more realistically to survive as much of the fifth day as bad light will allow. The way Renshaw lifted up Labuschagne in celebration of his first Test wicket might be symbolic; the returning player has done all he can to carry his reclaimed team to victory.
