Zim vs Aus 2026 – Matt Renshaw adjusting to his varied all-format lifestyle


There are a few more moving parts to Matt Renshaw’s life than there were 12 months ago.

This time last year he was still a month away from his limited-overs debut for Australia, which came in the ODI series against India, and now he’s an all-format player. In February he was a last-minute call-up to the T20 World Cup, a few weeks ago he returned to the Test side in Mackay and on Tuesday in Harare he scored a maiden ODI century which has put him closer to securing a spot in next year’s World Cup.

“I wasn’t playing this format this time last year, so I’m just sort of taking everything as it comes,” Renshaw said after his match-winning contribution. “Trying to plan for my life at the moment, it’s interesting, I don’t really know where I’m going to be especially with the call up to the Test side last month.

“But just enjoying it, it’s pretty amazing opportunity to play ODI cricket, playing any cricket for Australia is awesome, and just trying to enjoy that. Taking it seriously, obviously, but I know that I play my best when I’m nice and relaxed so whatever happens, happens.”

The notable aspect of Renshaw’s rapid elevation to a cross-format player is the different roles he is taking on. In white-ball cricket he has found himself in the middle order, anywhere from No. 3 to No. 7 in just 10 matches while he has returned as an opener in the Test side and appears set to continue there in the upcoming series in South Africa.

In Harare on Tuesday, he walked in with Australia wobbling on 107 for 4 and did not face a delivery of pace until he was 45 off 47 balls. Having reached his half-century from a measured 55 deliveries, by launching Wellington Masakadza onto the roof over long-off, his next fifty took just 33.

“It was just playing my game especially when the spinners were on pretty much the whole first 70 runs. I didn’t feel like I needed to push anything, it was just if the opportunity was there to find a boundary it was there,” he said. “When I first came into one-day cricket for Queensland I was opening the batting … but I think finding that [spot at] four and five from Big Bash into to List A cricket, [I’ve] really understood my role.

“I think at times when I batted higher up the order I’ve got a bit giddy, you [are] just like, I’m opening the batting there’s two [fielders] out you’ve got a slog. Where for me my tempo, when I come in the middle overs, is just trying to hit the gaps … and obviously with spin being a very big factor in that middle period I see it as my strength so just trying to play that game.”

The century, which came nearly ten years after his Test hundred against Pakistan, followed an interesting start to Renshaw’s ODI career. He began by reaching at least 21 in his first five innings, including half-centuries against India in Sydney and Pakistan in Rawalpindi, before a run of 4, 2, 0, 0 in four consecutive knocks – the latter three in the series against Bangladesh, where Renshaw believed he moved away from what has been working well for him

“I want my mindset to be as clear as possible,” he said. “[In the] Bangladesh ODIs I struggled because I sort of got a bit too technical with myself and not just thinking about watching the ball, hitting it and trying to play the way that I want to play. I think that’s the big one, just trying to, whatever conditions, play as positive as you can.”

Renshaw also has an increasingly valuable second string to his game as an offspinner, adding the wicket to Brendan Taylor to the five he took in the series against Bangladesh. One of Australia’s key tasks ahead of next year’s World Cup is finding the overs that Glenn Maxwell previously provided the one-day side – he shared nine with Cooper Connolly and Ollie Peake in the opening match – although Renshaw’s bowling role has yet to be fully acknowledged.

“I’m still not an allrounder on the team sheet, it comes up every game, it’s always just batter,” he joked. “So it’d be nice to have a bowler in there at some point. I don’t know how many more overs I need to bowl, especially when Peaky’s got the allrounder status.

“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing, it’s adding to the team hopefully. I think that’s what I saw in in Bangladesh, I had a really tough series with the bat but I was managing to contribute with the ball. That’s something as a batter, if you’re just batting it’s really hard to add that contribution and you feel like you’re not contributing, whereas having the bowling side, it always goes through your mind [that] you want to try and help out.”

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo



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