{"id":924883,"date":"2026-10-12T01:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924883\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T01:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:58:17","slug":"cricket-news-2026-matt-renshaws-test-career-analysis-after-century-vs-south-africa-mark-waugh-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924883\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: Matt Renshaw\u2019s Test career analysis after century vs South Africa, Mark Waugh comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Renshaw<\/a>\u2019s rollercoaster career at Test level has continued, but the question needs to be asked \u2013 why has it taken this long?<\/p>\n

After debuting at just 20 years of age a decade ago, Renshaw felt like a long-term prospect at the top of the Australian batting order.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Matt Renshaw celebrates his century on day two.\u00a0AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe<\/p>\n

Renshaw scored a maiden Test century in early 2017 but by the end of that year, was replaced by Cameron Bancroft<\/a> in the team.<\/p>\n

His recall a few months later coincided with the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, where he was parachuted back in to replace Bancroft.<\/p>\n

They were hardly ideal circumstances and Renshaw was back out of the Aussie team again before hew knew it, leading to a four-year hiatus that briefly ended in 2023 when he was picked and dropped again during the tour of India.<\/p>\n

It made for poetic scenes when Renshaw scored his second ton against the Proteas over the weekend, but under far different circumstances. <\/p>\n

It was a fantastic moment for Renshaw, who admitted he didn\u2019t know if the opportunity to raise his bat and helmet in the Test arena would come again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When he was overlooked for Jake Weatherald \u2013 an older player with an almost identical first-class record \u2013 it felt like Renshaw\u2019s ship had sailed.<\/p>\n

Renshaw earned a reprieve when the Weatherald experiment failed<\/a>, but at 30 years of age and with so much experience under his belt at first-class level, it\u2019s a fair time to ask why Australian selectors didn\u2019t persist with him when he first broke through.<\/p>\n

If he received as many chances and the type of prolonged backing as maligned former opener Marcus Harris<\/a> or even Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> in recent times, would Renshaw have turned it around and found the type of form he showed in Durban? <\/p>\n

We can\u2019t jump in a time machine to find out, but the class and talent has always been there with Renshaw and it\u2019s safe to assume he might have figured it out.<\/p>\n

The plaudits for Renshaw have come thick and fast after his game-turning 190 in difficult circumstances against the Proteas in the series opener.<\/p>\n

But the other burning question now centres around where Renshaw actually fits in the Aussie lineup moving forward and what the long-term plan is?<\/p>\n

Nic Maddinson<\/a>\u2019s baffling selection as an opener, despite not playing first-class cricket for 18 months, didn\u2019t pay off in the first innings against South Africa, but he trotted out and showed far more intent on Sunday night (AEDT) in the second dig and is expected to be given another chance in the second Test.<\/p>\n

Cameron Green<\/a>, who is out injured, is still to come back into the side, while there have been calls for Travis Head<\/a> to shift back to the No.5 spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travis Head.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Beau Webster<\/a> and Labuschagne are no guarantees of surviving past this tour, while the likes of Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Sam Harper, Josh Inglis and Jason Sangha remain in the mix for a Test batting spot over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

Mark Waugh<\/a> believes there is no bad option when it comes to Renshaw\u2019s position and he can easily fill anywhere from opener to the middle-order if required.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrilliant innings, by the way. Just a fantastic innings on a number of fronts,\u201d Waugh said on Fox Cricket after Renshaw\u2019s century.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the second Test, he\u2019ll bat five. They\u2019ll give Maddinson another Test, so that won\u2019t change. Maddinson will open in the second Test. No doubt about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he [Renshaw] can equally bat well in both spots, to be honest. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a right or wrong answer either, just quietly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerry O\u2019Keeffe said the selectors will push forward with Maddinson for now, despite his poor first innings knock and criticism around the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a one-off thing with Maddinson. They\u2019re going to persevere … they think he can do a job from the top of the order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maddinson and Head will resume on day four against the Proteas, with the visitors holding a 139-run lead in the first Test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Renshaw\u2019s rollercoaster career at Test level has continued, but the question needs to be asked \u2013 why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-924883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}