Renshaw backs Aussies to rebound against Bangladesh in second Test

FUTURE star Matt Renshaw insists the sky isn’t falling on Australian cricket and says the team’s Generation Next feel empowered to build a brave new culture for the baggy green.

FUTURE star Matt Renshaw insists the sky isn’t falling on Australian cricket and says the team’s Generation Next feel empowered to build a brave new culture for the baggy green.

Since the disastrous Hobart Test last November, selectors have looked to invest in cricketers they believe can become long-term fixtures in the Test side, and avoid an environment that’s prevailed in recent times where the dressing room can resemble a transit lounge.

There is no getting away from the historic low point Australia are facing if they fall to Bangladesh in Chittagong and surrender the series.

Dropping to No. 6 in the world would be a disaster for a multimillion-dollar outfit whose entire modus operandi is geared around being No. 1 in all formats.

However, the one silver lining through the back end of a forgettable period which has left Australia on the verge of losing their fourth series from five starts has been the overall strength of team selection.

The emergence of Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and the re-emergence of Pat Cummins and Ashton Agar has been as much about instilling character into the dressing room as it’s been about skill.

Clearly all of these players will live and die by their performance — toughness alone doesn’t keep you in Test cricket — but national selector Trevor Hohns and coach Darren Lehmann have set a framework in place for Australia to finally start discovering continuity and confidence.

Matt Renshaw ready for the second Test in Chittagong.

“I think the culture isn’t too bad at the moment. We’re all new to the team. I think we’re all just trying to learn,” said Renshaw.

“We’re all quite young and we’ve all got a lot of cricket ahead of us so we just wat to try and learn off the senior players and try and help build a bit of our own culture for the future.”

There is enormous pressure on the likes of Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell to lift or face the axe.

Amid the doom and gloom of the first Test, there were moments when young stars Renshaw and particularly Agar and Cummins stood up to be counted.

Lehmann says these are players you don’t find purely by sifting through statistics and they’re talents you can build a team around both at home and abroad.

“You are trying to look for that all-round player that can actually adapt in all conditions so you don’t have to keep chopping and changing with horses for courses, as such,” he said.

“You want to pick a side, a group that can play together for five to ten years if that is possible and that is what we are trying to do.

“For us it is a long-term view. Obviously you have still got to get results going your way.

“The character of those guys is exceptional, and I am sure they will bounce back really well in the next Test match.

“We have to, because the criticism will keep coming, that’s the way it is in international sport.”