Blues Test bowling attack the last barrier to Matt Renshaw’s recall to the Australian team

Having lost his spot in the recent series against Pakistan, Matt Renshaw’s Test future is in his own hands when Queensland clash with New South Wales in this week’s crucial Sheffield Shield clash.

Matt Renshaw is seen during the Queensland Bulls training session at Alan Border field in Brisbane, Tuesday, March 20, 2018. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

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Australia’s Test attack is all that stands between Queensland batsman Matt Renshaw and a return to the national team in Canberra this week.

Renshaw is firming to win back his spot at the top of the order for Australia and has been granted the perfect opportunity to seal the deal when the Queensland Sheffield Shield team clashes with New South Wales starting on Friday.

Score against an attack consisting of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon and Renshaw’s spot for the first Test in Adelaide is assured.

The fearsome bowling quartet reunites for the first time since Australia’s 4-0 Ashes triumph that culminated in Sydney at the beginning of 2017.

Matt Renshaw will be looking for big runs against New South Wales in his bid to win back his Test spot. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Speaking ahead of the Shield clash, Nathan Lyon declared the clash would have greater bearing for Queensland’s Test aspirants due to the quality of opposition.

“If Matt Renshaw comes out and bats well against this opposition, I’d say it’s going to weigh pretty heavily,” Lyon said.

“But in saying that, we’re not going to go easy on him just because he’s one of our mates and he’s trying to get back in the Test side.”

After topping the run-scoring chart in the 2017/18 Shield season (804 runs at 44.66) including three centuries, Renshaw earned a recall to the Test side alongside fellow state opener Joe Burns for the final match of Australia’s controversial tour of South Africa at the expense of David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

Unable to cement their spots following lacklustre showings, the duo have since worked their way back into the selection debate for the upcoming summer.

Blues spinner Nathan Lyon says the Queensland batsmen will get a solid working over. Picture. Phil Hillyard

After a pair of failures in his opening Shield game of the season, Renshaw hit 89 and 21 against Western Australia last round, while Burns continued his strong form with an unbeaten 89 and 49.

All-rounder Marcus Labuschagne also has an opportunity to save his spot in Australia’s middle-order should he provide a strong showing in the nation’s capital.

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Lyon’s ability to find life in the traditionally flat Manuka Oval wicket will play a major role in the immediate future of all three men.

“They’ve got some very classy cricketers in their side,” he said.

“It’s going to be a great opportunity for those guys to hopefully stand up against a really decent bowling attack.”

Joe Burns is looking for runs against New South Wales to put himself in the frame for Test selection (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The star off-spinner spoke of his excitement at getting back together with his Test quicks, saying the bowling unit has a valuable chance to get a feel for the Manuka deck prior to Australia’s Test match against Sri Lanka at the beginning of February.

“To be back all firing together is exciting. Hopefully we can come out here and put in a good performance and really get that combination and those partnerships working again,” he said.

“I just spoke to Brad (Manuka curator) about the wicket and he said it’s going to hopefully be something similar to the Test wicket, hopefully there will be a little bit more pace in the Test wicket he said.”

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