Test hopeful Matt Renshaw knows he needs to make some big runs for PM’s XI
The clock is ticking for the three main hopefuls looking to take David Warner’s Test spot and they’ll go head-to-head next month.
Test hopeful Matt Renshaw knows that opening the batting is a “fickle job” and isn’t getting lost in a recent run of low scores ahead of an upcoming bat-off as he looks to take David Warner’s place at the top of the Australian batting order next year.
Renshaw will play alongside fellow openers Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft for the Prime Minister’s XI as selectors look to replace Warner for January’s series against the West Indies.
Warner is set to retire from Test cricket after this summer’s three-match series against Pakistan and Queenslander Renshaw, Victorian Harris and West Australian Bancroft are the three top contenders to replace him.
They’ll all get a bat against Pakistan at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on December 6-9 and enter in varying degrees of form.
Renshaw, 27, was in good form early in the season, with his knocks including an innings of 135 in Queensland’s Sheffield Shield win over Victoria last month in Mackay.
But since then, it has been slim pickings, passing 50 just one once in his past six Shield innings with four scores under 10.
He’s adamant those lean returns are more a reflection of how hard opening the batting is than his own form.
“Opening is such a fickle job,” Renshaw said on Wednesday at Royal Queensland Golf Club where he played in the pro-am ahead of the Australian PGA Championship.
“You can just nick off a couple of times early (but) I feel my game’s in good stead.
“I feel really good. It’s just unfortunate that sometimes as an opener you face the new ball and nick one.
“It’s a big week against WA”
Renshaw will get to warm up with a Shield clash against WA next week and said he’d take a relaxed attitude into the PM’s XI clash despite what’s on the line.
“Whatever happens with that game, it’s just another chance to try to have fun and play some good cricket,” he said.
“It’s just another game of cricket.”
Having returned to the Test team in the middle order for two matches in India in February, one as a sub, Renshaw said he’d be happy to bat anywhere in the order if Harris and Bancroft were the preferred openers in Canberra.
“If you can bat as an opener, you can bat three, you can bat four … you can bat anywhere,” he said.
“I’m not fussed where I bat.”
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