Australia v South Africa: Insane story of Matt Renshaw’s positive RAT test at the SCG

What happens when a player tests positive for Covid only moments after the toss? Go inside the Aussie dressing room as the chaos surrounding Matt Renshaw unfolded.

Matt Renshaw’s comeback Test was plunged into momentary chaos when he was detected as a Covid victim just minutes before the start of the Sydney Test.

News Corp understands it was only after the toss that Renshaw asked the Australian team doctor Leigh Golding out on the field for some Telfast tablets because he felt he had Hay fever coming on.

The doctor told Renshaw that under team protocols, he would also be required to take a Covid test as a precaution – and as a result the comeback batsman was at the 11th hour separated from teammates at the national anthem and did not link arms like the rest.

A RAT Test soon confirmed Renshaw did in fact have Covid, ironic given Pat Cummins declared only the day before that he was stunned Australia had got through the Test summer without a single positive case.

Marnus Labuschagne said players are so used to the game’s strict protocols, they “do not care” about the threat of Covid spreading through the camp as he recounted the moment on Wednesday morning when Renshaw was forced to leave the dressing room. I walked in there and he was walking out,” Labuschagne said.

“He was out pretty quickly there. Just as a precaution, so you don’t get five or six guys being sick. That’s the main thing you want to achieve.

Teammates gave Matt Renshaw a wide berth before play at the SCG. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty

“I only saw him briefly this morning. I’m not sure how sick he actually is. But he’s fine. He’s played on and obviously if he gets to a point where he can’t play then obviously the Covid sub comes in. At this stage he’s certainly nowhere near that and he’s fine. We don’t really care. It’s just play on.”

Team sheets are not locked in until the toss, but it’s almost certain Renshaw would have still been named in the XI even if he’d reported his symptoms earlier.

However, the fact he didn’t return a positive test until after the toss does mean that technically Renshaw could be subbed out of the match under the ICC’s Covid rules should his symptoms worsen.

Australia has declared though, that Renshaw will play out the rest of the match, with his symptoms only mild.

Renshaw has immediately been transferred to a separate dressing room to teammates where he will prepare for the rest of the match, and spent the first hour of play sitting a couple of metres away from the sub-fielders near the Australian dug-out.

Some commentators queried why Renshaw wasn’t wearing a mask given his proximity to the crowd and other players, even though he was outside.

Matt Renshaw in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19. Picture: Getty

There have been lots of occurances of Covid positive stars playing in the Big Bash, including Marcus Stoinis and Joe Burns this season, and Thalia McGrath at the Commonwealth Games for the Australian women last year.

Matthew Wade would have played against England in the World Cup game at the MCG this summer, before it was rained out anyway.

Cricket has protocols which separate players in Covid dressing rooms, but they are still allowed to field.

The unexpected appearance of Victorian batsman Peter Handscomb on the team sheet as a sub-fielder led to speculation that perhaps Handscomb had been called into the fold to serve as an eleventh hour Covid sub – however that is not the case.

Handscomb was already flying in to join the camp during the Test, with spare batsman Marcus Harris due to leave the squad on day three.

Therefore Handscomb will assume Harris’ role as the concussion sub, which is mandatory for every Test.

Handscomb’s name was put on the team to ensure he could be used as a sub-fielder as well, after Australia were pulled up for trying to use a sub-fielder in Melbourne who wasn’t listed on the team sheet.

Handscomb is not yet in Sydney, but his impending arrival is a pointer towards the fact he is a huge chance of joining Renshaw in returning to the Australian squad to tour India next month.