Renshaw smashes rapid county ton

Matthew Renshaw's reputation as a dour opening batsman is no longer after the Australian blasted an incredible century before lunch for Somerset at Taunton on Saturday.

The left-hander needed just 86 balls to bring up his second ton in as many games for his new club on a typically nippy early-season English pitch against Yorkshire - the county where he was born.

After Somerset were sent in following a washed out first day, Renshaw treated the visitors' attack with disdain; he got off the mark with a six, he brought up his 50 with a six and he notched triple figures with a six.

Renshaw had remarkably pushed past 50 without needing to break stride; his first 52 runs all came in fours and sixes in a brutal display of hitting.

FOLLOW LIVE: SOMERSET V YORKSHIRE

Renshaw's teammates looked like they were playing on a different pitch. First-drop George Bartlett did best with 39 before departing, as former England opener Marcus Trecothick (4), James Hildreth (0) and Tom Abell (4) were all sent packing before the lunch interval.

It was comfortably the fastest of the Queenslander's nine first-class hundreds. His previous quickest was his ton on debut for Somerset just last week, with that hundred coming up off 137 deliveries against Worcestershire in the club's County Championship season-opener.

Renshaw was caught behind off paceman Jack Brooks on the second ball he faced after the lunch break for a brilliant 112 off 99, finishing with 16 fours and four sixes.

Somerset were 5-171 when he departed, and folded to be all out for 216. They then ran through Yorkshire to dismiss the White Rose for just 96, with Renshaw back at the crease at stumps, four not out from six balls.

The ton caps a whirlwind few weeks for Renshaw, who was whisked away to join Australia's embattled Test squad in South Africa hours after he led the Bulls to victory in the JLT Sheffield Shield final in Brisbane last month.

He managed 5 and 8 in his return to the Test side, opening alongside Queensland teammate Joe Burns, with Cameron Bancroft and David Warner banned in the wake of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Intriguingly, Bancroft had originally been signed as Somerset's overseas player for first-class cricket for the northern summer but had his contract cancelled due to the controversy.

Renshaw then accepted a last-minute offer to replace him at the Division One side while on holiday in Europe.

"It's all happened pretty quickly," Renshaw told radio station RSN927 recently. "It was unfortunate circumstances in how I got back (into the Test team) but it has been nice to be back in the runs and in a few teams I wasn't expecting to be in.

"It would have been nice to force myself back into the (Australia) team in different circumstances but you've just got to take everything as it comes.

"(Australia selectors) picked me because of my runs in the second-half of the year and that was something I tried to do. I would have liked to make some runs in South Africa, but it just wasn't my game."

HOW THE TURTLE BECAME THE HARE - RENSHAW'S FIRST-CLASS HUNDREDS BY BALLS:

Dec 15: 249 balls to reach 100 (finished with 170 off 395 v NSW)

Feb 16: 200 balls (146 off 244 v SA)

Nov 16: 192 balls (108 off 202 v SA) 

Jan 17: 201 balls (184 off 293 v Pak)

Feb 18: 149 balls (170 off 218 v Vic)

Feb 18: 130 balls (112 off 148 v SA)

Mar 18: 153 balls (143* off 196 v WA)

Apr 18: 137 balls (101* off 139 v Worc)

Apr 18: 86 balls (112 off 99 v York)