Renshaw strikes three-year deal with Adelaide

The Adelaide Strikers have continued their off-season moves adding left-handed batter Matthew Renshaw to their squad on a three-year deal.

Renshaw, the Heat's second-highest run-scorer last summer in what proved to be a dismal season for the pre-tournament favourites, struck three fifties in his 348 runs at a strike-rate of 129.85, with a highest score of 65.

His occasional off-spin, that has seen him take six wickets in 23 career overs at an economy rate of 7.52, prompted the Strikers to declare him an allrounder.

Renshaw joins fellow Queenslander Michael Neser in the Strikers squad, and marks Adelaide's second major off-season move following the trade that saw them send Billy Stanlake to the Melbourne Stars in return for Daniel Worrall.

The Brisbane Heat, who are also expected to farewell James Pattinson to the Melbourne Renegades and Ben Cutting to the Sydney Thunder this summer, admitted they tried to retain Renshaw.

"The Heat put our best offer forward to retain Matt, and while we're disappointed to see him leave, we wish him well," Heat head coach Darren Lehmann said.

"In the three seasons he had with us, he worked hard to develop his T20 skills and his enthusiasm was good to have around the team.

"Finalising the list has had its share of challenges but we're pretty pleased with how things are coming together," Lehmann added.

His move away from the Heat had long been touted, having first been reported back in February, as the 24-year-old's breakout BBL season soon saw him crash back to earth while he grappled with a substandard first-class summer with Queensland.

His T20 game has evolved in recent seasons; the Heat only gave him one game in BBL07 before playing nine of the 14 matches in BBL08 – including a career-best unbeaten 90 off 50 balls against the Strikers.

That knock had then Heat skipper Brendon McCullum declaring Renshaw had the ability to be an Australia T20 international star.

"He has that in him now and if he just focuses on the next ball every time, then he's got the sheer talent and ability and also power to be able to play at the top level in this form of the game," McCullum said at the time.

The BBL was something of a release for Renshaw last summer and his returns in the T20 tournament were in stark contrast to his lack of form in the Marsh Sheffield Shield competition.

Renshaw took a break from cricket before the Shield season resumed, and in August revealed to cricket.com.au that he was "absolutely mentally nowhere" after the BBL.

"I think it was just a lot of mental fatigue," Renshaw said.

"Coming off the Big Bash, we'd played 14 games in six weeks and there was a lot of travel-play-travel-play. And me being me, I'm such a big thinker about my game and it puts such a big mental stress on the game that you're playing. And then that just keeps rolling through. That's where it all came from.

"There were times during the Big Bash where I was playing the game and then I was playing the game again in my head until three or four in the morning. And then you get up and go again.

"If I've learnt anything, it's being able to mentally switch off."

Renshaw revealed he rediscovered his love of the game smashing throwdowns from his father at a Brisbane suburban ground.

His break – and the onset of the COVID19 pandemic – mean he had not played a competitive match since a Queensland second XI fixture in early February before last week's resumption of Premier Cricket in Queensland.

"I definitely think it was something I needed to do. I pretty much ruled myself out for the rest of the Shield season, which was a really tough decision," Renshaw told cricket.com.au of his decision to take a break from cricket last February.

"I knew I probably would have got myself back in the (Queensland) team if I didn't have a break, because we lost a couple of players to international duty.

"But at the time, I just needed some time away from cricket and to spend a bit of time with my family and friends.

Renshaw first broke on the Australian cricket scene as a dependable opening batsman in Shield cricket, earning a Test call-up in 2016 as a 21-year-old at the Adelaide Oval, the venue he will now call home for the next three BBL seasons.

Strikers head coach Jason Gillespie said Renshaw had "really come into his own in T20 cricket in the last couple of seasons".

"He is a great character, and everyone at the Strikers is excited to have Matt on board for the next three years."

Adelaide Strikers BBL10 squad (so far): Travis Head (c), Michael Neser, Harry Nielsen, Matthew Renshaw, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, DanielWorrall.