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Timing is everything in cricket – on the field and off it, particularly when it comes to selections.
For Matt Renshaw, the worst thing that happened to his chances of re-establishing his place in the Australian team long term was getting recalled at the wrong time, twice.
Renshaw is now back in the mix to replace David Warner for the June tour to England where the Australians will attempt to claim the World Test Championship trophy by beating India in the final before regaining the Ashes urn against a Bazball-inspired host nation.
The 27-year-old Queenslander showed he is a class above the second tier with a first-innings 112 and quick-fire 78 in Australia A’s tour game against their New Zealand counterparts in Lincoln.
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But he is still yet to prove he can be a consistent performer at Test level.
Matthew Renshaw. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
After being thrown in at the deep end as a 20-year-old when Australia were in the midst of a home series shellacking at the hands of South Africa in 2016, he averaged 63 in his first four Tests, highlighted by a superb 184 against Pakistan in Sydney.
But the turning wickets of India and Bangladesh brought him undone and he was dropped less than a year after receiving his first baggy green cap.
His first recall was a hiding to nothing – he was flown into South Africa to join the squad when Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith had been suspended for the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
He and opening partner Joe Burns were still feeling the after-effects of jetlag when they stepped onto the field at The Wanderers in Johannesburg and after failing in both innings, Renshaw’s form went into a tailspin to the point where he was dropped by Queensland.
His second Test recall – after rebuilding his career at Sheffield Shield level, turned out to be another case of bad timing.
He was surprisingly included at No.6 for the New Year’s Test in Sydney but barely got started before rain brought Australia’s innings to a close and then he was mistakenly retained for a middle-order berth in India ahead of Travis Head because of the South Australian left-hander’s poor record against spin.
Had the selectors forgotten about Renshaw’s 232 runs at 29 on the previous tour of India and 76 at 19 in Bangladesh?
And despite briefly shining in the middle order for Queensland, he’s an opener through and through.
His even temperament, strength against pace and struggles with spin all add up to someone who should be at the top of the order, never in the middle, particularly when confronted with India’s world-class spinners on turning tracks.
Four runs from three innings in India will be the eternal reminder of that.
Back at the top of the order for Australia A, he’s shown that’s where he belongs but it would still be a gamble for the national selectors to pick him alongside Usman Khawaja for the monumental matches on the horizon.
Cameron Bancroft has also mounted a strong case for the role after piling on 945 runs, including four tons, at 59.06 for the all-conquering Western Australia, nearly 300 clear of the next-best rungetter.
Cameron Bancroft. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
Warner’s form has been not up to scratch for the past three years but the selectors still seem reluctant to tap him on the shoulder despite the 36-year-old looking all at sea in India before a fractured elbow ended his series midway through the second Test.
He did little in the one ODI on the last day of the Indian tour to move the needle either way about whether he should be retained in the Test side with a scratchy 23 off 31 after being relegated to No.4, just the second time he hasn’t opened in his 142-game career and the first since 2015.
Warner is now leading the Delhi Capitals in the IPL which runs until the end of next month, just before the tour squad assembles in England, which is hardly the ideal preparation for a tour where he has a mediocre record by his otherwise high career standards of 651 runs from 13 Tests at 26.04 with no centuries.
Head is the only other realistic option to partner Khawaja after filling in for the final five innings in India. He played some crucial knocks but coach Andrew McDonald and the player himself both said they saw it as a stopgap role and he’s all but certain to slot in at No.5 in England.
Victorian opener Marcus Harris is a potential candidate but a summer of 601 runs at 37.56 in the Shield hardly amounts to banging down the proverbial selection door.
Renshaw’s dominant display in New Zealand gets extra credit than the standard A level game given the match was played with a Dukes ball in conditions similar to those that will confront Australia when they head to England.
The Australian camp reiterated they were using a horses for courses selection policy in India by bringing in Peter Handscomb, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann.
David Warner walks off after he was dismissed by Mohammed Shami. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
They definitely backed the wrong horse in Renshaw at the start of that series but the greener pastures of England are more typical of the course he thrives on after several seasons plundering runs at the seam-friendly Gabba.
Despite Renshaw smashing 11 fours and two sixes in the second dig to set up a declaration for the Aussie A side, the locals chased down the target of 365 runs on the final day with three wickets to spare.
South Australian left-arm quick Spencer Johnson’s hopes of impressing the selectors for an unlikely ticket to England dwindled on the final day.
The 27-year-old, who has come out of nowhere after overcoming a string of debilitating ankle injuries to take 16 wickets in his opening three first-class outings, continued his purple patch with 4-53 in the first innings but couldn’t make a breakthrough in 16 overs in the second innings.