Matt Renshaw clings to opener’s spot for first Ashes Test in Brisbane

MATT RENSHAW is likely to open for Australia in the first Test against England, but he can hear the footsteps of rivals closing in.

Joe Burns of Queensland bats during day 3 of the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania.

MATT RENSHAW is likely to open for Australia in the first Test against England, but he can hear the footsteps of rivals closing in.

Australia’s first Test side became clearer on some fronts over the past few days — Peter Nevill is likely to be the keeper — but selectors will be keen spectators at next week’s Sheffield Shield games before naming their top order for the November 23 Gabba Test against England.

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Renshaw made a painstaking 19 off 109 balls against Tasmania on Monday as the impressive Queensland Bulls (181 and 3-158) notched two wins from two Sheffield Shield games for new coach Wade Seccombe following fine efforts by fast men Luke Feldman and Michael Neser against Tasmania (186 and 150).

Joe Burns sends a reminder to Australian selectors with a solid innings for Queensland.

Matt Renshaw has battled at the crease this season.

Renshaw’s Shield scores in the two games have been 17 off 42 balls, 16 off 70, 1 off 16 and the latest innings giving him 53 off 237 balls

He is existing but not expanding at the crease, all part of the learning curve of a young opening batsman feeling the pressure to nail down his heart’s desire, a home Test against the country of his birth.

He deserves to get there and probably will, but one argument supporting his case a week ago — “there’s no one else’’ – no longer exists.

Renshaw’s Queensland opening partner and Test discard Joe Burns made 70 on Monday to put his name not so much up in lights, but at least under the selectors’ eye.

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Another challenge came from someone who has been on the radar for two years without breaking through, West Australian opener Cameron Bancroft, also keeping wickets in the Sydney game against NSW.

Bancroft batted through the entire innings against NSW’s Test attack to make an unbeaten 76 in a total of 176, the sort of out-of-the-box effort needed to come from the clouds into rough contention.

Bancroft, more of a back-up option if Renshaw fails, has always interested the selectors who see him as the type of old fashioned, bare-knuckled opener hard to find in a world full of Flash Harries.

Bancroft had the misfortune of being part of two cancelled tours that could have shaped his future, a Test tour of Bangladesh that was called off because of security concerns and this year’s Australia A tour of South Africa that was a victim of the pay strike.

The No. 6 spot remains very much a matter of debate with Hilton Cartwright facing an important innings against NSW’s in-form duo Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

Darren Lehmann’s son Jake, who scored an up-tempo 103 in the first innings against Victoria, was hot again with 93.

He is unlikely to be chosen early in the Ashes series but such is the openness of the field that any batsman who can score two or more centuries must be a contender.

Originally published as Matt Renshaw clings to opener’s spot for first Ashes Test in Brisbane