Renshaw looks back to break drought, push Ashes case

In a roundabout way, Matthew Renshaw's severe lack of any meaningful time at the batting crease prior to his star turn in Lincoln this week might prove as much a blessing as a disappointment.

Dropped after the first Test of Australia's recent tour of India and only then returning as a mid-match concussion substitute in the second, Renshaw had faced just 16 balls in nine weeks before dominating New Zealand A with scores of 112 and 78 in Australia's three-wicket defeat this week.

The impressive returns came after some rough times in India; he followed a first-up golden duck with a pair of twos before losing his spot to Travis Head (who replaced him for the second Test) and then Cameron Green (who returned from injury for the third), while Peter Handscomb was also preferred in the middle order.

The short-lived nature of Renshaw’s three hits on wickedly spinning pitches led to an inadvertent lightbulb moment during the series.

"We had a batters' meeting and we looked at footage of all the boys and unfortunately they didn't have enough footage of me to watch, so they went back and put some 2017 footage of me up there," Renshaw, whose first overseas Test tour was to India in 2017, told cricket.com.au from New Zealand.

"I just noticed how big a difference there was with my technique, from 2017 to now. So that's a big learning, to work out what I did well in that series and then looking forward to now.

"One thing I noticed was my defence was quite solid back then and I didn't play too many shots outside of my defence … at the end of the day I was just trusting my defence and that's what you've really got to do in India."

Conditions at Bert Sutcliffe Oval on NZ's South Island, designed to replicate what the Aussies will face during this year's Ashes tour and which Renshaw said "felt very English" particularly during the early stages of the match, were a far cry from the raging turners he batted on in Nagpur and Delhi.

But the left-hander, having now taken his Test tally to 14 matches since his international entrance as a fresh-faced 20-year-old back in 2016, is confident his showing in the A tour opener suggests he is a strong prospect to make his Ashes debut this year.

The future of David Warner remains clouded, though Australia have suggested he remains in their plans for the World Test Championship final in June. Should one become available, Renshaw would be a prime candidate to reprise an opening berth.

The 27-year-old was the most credentialled player of a young Australia A side that took more than twice as many wickets as their Kiwi counterparts this week, only for their generous second-innings declaration to back-fire as the hosts chased down 365 in the final session.

Renshaw was nonetheless satisfied with how he handled a NZ A attack featuring three bowlers with 43 Test caps between them (Australia A's, by contrast, had just two), with the Dukes ball used for Tests in the UK swinging and nipping early on.

Scott Kuggeleijn targeted the visitors with a barrage of fast, short-pitched deliveries in a Neil Wagner-style assault, a method of attack Renshaw admits he had never previously encountered in first-class cricket.

While trusting his defence was a key lesson out of India, the Queenslander had no hesitation in taking on Kuggeleijn’s brisk pace when required.

His second-innings 78 at better than a run-a-ball helped set up his side's declaration and underlined his ability to hit another gear when required.

"The first innings was nice because I haven’t batted as much as I would have liked in the last four months," said Renshaw, whose 169-ball first-innings hand marked his fifth first-class century over the past 12 months.

"I've had three bats since the end of the Big Bash, so it was a really strange sort of feeling not batting and not (being) sure how I was going out in the middle in India.

"It was a bit strange being back out there in a first-class game. Then the second innings was all about batting to the match situation. We were ahead of the game and we wanted to set up a declaration."

Renshaw, who lost his Australia spot on the eve of the 2017-18 Ashes and has not featured in either of the next two Test series against England, has opted not to pursue a county contract for the early stages of the northern summer.

He has had three separate county stints with Somerset and Kent, averaging 44.68 and scoring five hundreds in the Championship, though he is aware the likes of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Jofra Archer present a different challenge.

"I've had some success in county cricket in England already, so I know how the game goes over there," said Renshaw.

"Obviously it's a bit different in an Ashes Test and that bowling attack, but the way you play is always evolving and being able to work out how to play on a certain day is probably the biggest part of batting."

New Zealand A v Australia A series

First four-day match: April 1-4, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln

Second four-day match: April 8-11, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln

Both matches will be live streamed on nzc.nz.

Australia A squad: Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett, Jordan Buckingham, Aaron Hardie, Caleb Jewell, Spencer Johnson, Campbell Kellaway, Nathan McSweeney, Mitch Perry, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Tim Ward, Teague Wyllie

New Zealand A squad: Tom Bruce (c), Adi Ashok, Doug Bracewell, Henry Cooper, Jacob Duffy (Game 1 only), Dean Foxcroft, Cam Fletcher, Mitch Hay, Scott Kuggeleijn, Cole McConchie, Robbie O'Donnell, Will O'Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Sean Solia