English-born Renshaw halfway to boyhood Ashes dream

Matthew Renshaw is on the verge of realising a boyhood dream, even if a maiden Ashes tour is set to come against the nation he once hoped to be representing.

English-raised in his early years, Renshaw is the first to admit the journey to potentially playing his first Test in his old homeland is more unique than most Australians.

Born in Middlesbrough, Renshaw lived in England until age seven when his family moved to New Zealand for four years and eventually migrated to Australia.

The Queenslander grew up as friends with former England skipper Joe Root and has several members of his family back in England, a lot of whom have split allegiances now following Renshaw's selection in Australia's 17-man squad.

"It's probably a bit strange for me growing up in England and supporting England when I was younger," Renshaw said.

"It was always a dream to play the Ashes.

"But when I was nine years old, it probably wasn't a dream to play for Australia."

One thing Renshaw does know is English conditions suit him.

He has scored five county centuries in 14 matches for Somerset and has made runs against the Dukes ball both in England, at home, and recently during Australia A's tour of New Zealand.

"I average around 50 for Somerset over there," Renshaw said.

"I have had a lot of success with the Dukes ball, it plays a lot different to the Kookaburra. It's quite a different experience going over there."

Renshaw will also approach this Ashes series with a more relaxed approach than his last shot in 2016-17.

Australia's incumbent opener in that home series admits he let a run of bad scores get to him before being dropped for the first Test.

He thought he had thrown away his Ashes ticket again after scores of zero, two and two in India last month and missing out on a central contract.

But he responded with scores of 112 and 140 for Australia A against the Dukes ball in New Zealand to stake his claim.

He is now battling with Marcus Harris to be front of the queue if selectors drop David Warner for the Ashes series opener in Birmingham, with the veteran seemingly locked in for the preceding World Test Championship Final against India.

"Fortunately that Australia A series came and I was able to show what I can do," Renshaw said.

"I tried to not think about it as much as possible. You can go over to (New Zealand) and think, I need to score runs to get on that plane.

"I just thought I will go over there and try and enjoy myself and if I score runs, I score runs.

"It's really tough for us to break into that team, it's just if we do get an opportunity through injury or something along those lines, it's just about taking the opportunity whether that's middle-order (or) top-order."

2023 Qantas Tour of the UK

World Test Championship Final: Wednesday June 7-Sunday June 11, The Oval

First Test: Friday June 16-Tuesday June 20, Edgbaston

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval