The past summer was a wild ride for Matthew Renshaw. The Queenslander chats to DANIEL CHERNY about becoming a dad, battling back from the Test scrapheap, and what to expect in his first Ashes tour.
And it comes in the form of a nuggety Victorian opener who just happens to be a World Cup-winning captain.
That Renshaw did not play a Test in almost five years from April 2018 to January 2023 is well documented.
And so too is the fact that a blow to the head during a tour match in the United Arab Emirates, ahead of a series against Pakistan in 2018, helped prolong Renshaw’s extended absence from the Australian side.
Two opening vacancies had arisen following suspensions to David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Renshaw was primed to fill one of them. But as it turned out, one of his rivals for a spot – Aaron Finch – inadvertently set off a chain of events which led to Renshaw’s long wait for another Test.
Renshaw’s head knock was a suboptimal start to Australia’s first Test tour after the sandpaper scandal. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
“So before the Test, I was sort of fielding at slip and Finchy was fielding at bat-pad in training, kept dropping them,” Renshaw told CODE Sports.
“And so then I put the helmet on in the rotation, I caught a couple and they said, ‘OK you can go bat-pad’. Finchy played it beautifully. And then fielding at bat-pad I got a pull shot to the head from about half a metre away and tried to stay on but just sort of lost it straightaway. Just sort of tried to get up try to play on but unfortunately couldn’t get through and then got told I hadn’t played enough cricket during that time (before the Test).
“Which was really frustrating for me, missing out on opportunity, but you can’t write scripts, you’ve just got to come through them. It’s probably a good learning opportunity for me as well.”
Renshaw toiled away in domestic cricket for scant reward until the past summer. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images
At the time, Renshaw was still just 22 and had played 11 Tests, 10 of which came before he was dropped ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes series. The other was in Johannesburg when reinforcements were needed after the disaster of Cape Town.
While Renshaw was disappointed to miss a spot in the XI during the UAE tour, he had already made a Test century and further opportunities were in theory just around the corner.
But following dips in form and moves down and then back up the order, Renshaw would not be seen again in the baggy green until a surprise call-up at the start of this year for the Sydney Test, a precursor to a spot in the touring party for India and ultimately the Ashes.
Renshaw’s return to Test cricket at the SCG was highly inauspicious. He batted just once, making five not out before an Australian declaration, having been shunned to the boundary after testing positive to Covid-19.
If that brief involvement was not his fault, Renshaw had only himself to blame for being a bit-part player in India, where he was out three times in 16 balls, making just four runs and ending the series on the bench.
That he was on the plane to England owed in part then to a starring role off-Broadway in April, when he posted two centuries and 78 for Australia A in New Zealand to secure a spot in the squad for the World Test Championship final and the first two Ashes Tests.
Renshaw rode this rollercoaster while working a new job: father.
Wife Josie gave birth to daughter Charlotte in mid-December. While Renshaw did not elaborate on the nature of the couple’s fertility issues, he says the couple had “a little bit of a tough time” before Charlotte’s arrival.
“We just wanted to have a baby and then ended up being a December one which as a cricketer is the worst time you can have a baby. Wouldn’t recommend it for anyone to have a baby in December as a cricketer, especially then going into a Test tour of India straight from the Big Bash,” Renshaw says.
“And then a couple of weeks of going to New Zealand. So it’s been a little bit of a tough time in that aspect, but I know they are as supportive as they can be. Spoke a lot on FaceTime and on the phone while I was over in India, which was really nice. But yeah, it’s a strange old time to have a baby and yeah, it’s been nice having these last few weeks at home and just being able to spend time (together).
“(A challenge conceiving) was sort of something we knew about before but it was just trying get it sorted. And then in the end, got pretty fortunate with it all but we look back at it now and go ‘Why did we try and plan it around December?’ But it was something we’d always wanted.”
Renshaw had performed solidly during his first Test tour of India in 2017 and felt that left him well-placed to conquer Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in 2023. He was to be sorely mistaken.
“I had a really successful 2017 tour so just went back and looked at how I faced Ashwin and Jadeja, who were probably even more at the peak of their careers back then as well. So did really well against them,” Renshaw said.
After his failures in India, Renshaw consulted the tape to see where he had gone wrong.
“I just wanted to try and check out what I did against them. And there was some really interesting developments in the way I was batting.
“I didn’t think I was as good a player back then. And then sort of you go away from that because you think you’ve got better and feel like you’re doing better and having some success against a few of the spinners in domestic cricket as well. But over there in India, it’s just a completely different ballgame.
“You look back on it now and it was a tough time but it was a really good learning experience for me and my game.”
Renshaw’s versatility makes him a handy spare batter in Australia’s squad, but he accepts he heads to his one-time home – Renshaw was born in England but left as a seven-year-old – down the pecking order.
“(I’m) probably a few back from the main team but the Ashes series is so long, especially with the World Test (Championship final) at the start. There’s six Tests, so never know what could happen over there.”
Growing up in the UK, Renshaw’s heroes included Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook. His allegiances firmly with Australia these days, Renshaw is eyeing a first ever Ashes Test, having missed out early in his career. It’s that experience that means he probably won’t read these words.
“Before the 17-18 Ashes I was pretty much a lock of in the team and sort of had four or five Shield games before that and couldn’t score a run. I was reading the press every day … then my mindset was just gone after that. So I really struggled with watching and reading the media after that.
“So I just sort of try and let it go and not worry about it because you guys are paid to write articles whether they be good about me, bad about me, that’s not my issue. It’s just trying to enjoy my cricket and I know that if I’m thinking about that sort of stuff I’m not thinking about the cricket.”