Duality of Renners: Polar opposite roles beckon for all-format bat

Marco Jansen with a bright red Kookaburra on a lively first-morning Durban surface; Sikandar Raza with a fading white ball on a low Harare track. Matthew Renshaw's dual roles on his journey through southern Africa could hardly be more different.

Yet, after conquering a Zimbabwe ODI attack that had accounted for Australia's entire top four inside 18 overs on Tuesday, Renshaw believes his limited-overs rise can help him tame the Proteas' menacing pace brigade next month.

Renshaw put it bluntly when asked if his first international hundred since his Test entrance as the 20-year-old 'Turtle' a decade ago felt like a long time coming: "It felt like a long time," he told reporters after his 94-ball 109 fired Australia to a first-up win to begin a six-ODI campaign that precedes three Tests in South Africa.

The up-and-down career of Renshaw has steadied over the past 12 months, his emergence as a key middle-order cog in both white-ball teams dovetailing with his return to the Test side in Mackay last month.

It is an unusual contrast of skills that has brought him here. Dragged to the crease on Tuesday morning hardly an hour into the match at No.6, the left-hander navigated a spin assault to shepherd Australia's middle and lower order to a commanding total on a far-from-flat wicket.

"You're batting at six. You're probably not expecting to get a hundred, or if you do, it's probably slogging, not coming in early," Renshaw said of his 94-ball hand, the first 49 deliveries of which were all sent down by spinners.

"But I wasn't thinking about that at all. It was just batting, playing the game, trying to work out how to get us to a decent score. The boys started really well. We lost a couple of wickets, but we started well in the scoring rate, so I never felt like I had to push the envelope very much early.

"It was just playing my game, especially when the spinners were on – that was pretty much the whole first 70 runs. I didn't feel like I needed to push anything."

Contrast those thoughts with what Renshaw will face at Kingsmead where Australia begin their World Test Championship final rematch in less than a month's time. The last time a Test was played there, left-arm quick Jansen took 7-13 in 41 balls in Sri Lanka's first innings.

Even if Rabada misses some or all of the series with injury, the reigning World Test champions are sure to field a threatening seam attack. And Renshaw will be on the front line.

"It's obviously a very different role, going straight out to open the batting in a red-ball game compared to coming in in the 20th over (of an ODI) facing two spinners," he said,

"So it's something I'm trying to prepare for as well as I can. For me, mindset is the biggest thing. I don't talk too much about technique – it's not something that I like to go into, I feel like it just confuses me.

"(But) the mindset going in will be quite similar to what I bring in white-ball. That brings the best out of my movements.

"So I'll probably have to, when time suits, hit some red balls at some point during these six ODIs. But batting, I think if you're in a good rhythm, just trying to get as much rhythm as you can before that that Test series. There's five (ODIs) still to go before that."

Even if he sneaks in some red-ball batting sessions, for now Renshaw will be bedding down a middle-order role that is his to lose for the ODI World Cup in southern Africa next year. Playing there will be less of a surprise than his sudden graduation to the T20 World Cup team earlier this year.

"I wasn't playing this format this time last year, so I'm just sort of taking everything as it comes," he said. "Trying to plan for my life at the moment is interesting. I don't really know where I'm going to be, especially with the call up to the Test side.

"It's a pretty amazing opportunity to play ODI cricket … If I get to play in that World Cup, it'd be great – I played in a T20 (World Cup) when I wasn't expecting it."

And his role might extend beyond the bat.

Cameron Green's absence from the tour opener due to a sore shoulder in the first ODI exposed Australia's lack of all-round alternatives following the retirements of World Cup winners Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.

Captain Mitch Marsh, no longer bowling himself, pieced the overs between spinners Renshaw (1-32 from four overs), Cooper Connolly (1-23 from four in his first bowl in a match in five months after recovering from a back injury) and Ollie Peake (0-4 from one).

Renshaw says he has worked on his off-spin with assistant coach James Franlkin but his admission he does not get invited to Australia's bowling meetings suggests Marsh (and Pat Cummins when he returns as ODI skipper) might not yet be able to rely on a more frequent output from him.

"It's something I've always enjoyed doing," Renshaw said of his bowling. "Hopefully it's adding to the team. What I saw in Bangladesh was I had a really tough series (scoring two runs in three innings) with the bat, but I was managing to contribute with the ball."

Qantas tour of Zimbabwe 2026

All matches broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First ODI: Australia beat Zimbabwe by 59 runs

Second ODI: September 18, Harare Sports Club, 5:30pm AEST (9:30am local)

Third ODI: September 20, Harare Sports Club, 5:30pm AEST (9:30am local)

Zimbabwe squad: Sikandar Raza (c), Ben Curran, Blessing Muzarabani, Brad Evans, Brendan Taylor, Brian Bennett, Craig Ervine, Ernest Masuku, Graeme Cremer, Innocent Kaia, Newman Nyamhuri, Ryan Burl, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Wessly Madhevere

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Adam Zampa

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First ODI: September 24, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6pm AEST (10am local)

Second ODI: September 27, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, 6pm AEST (10am local)

Third ODI: September 30, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 9:30pm AEST (D/N, 1:30pm local)

South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs

Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Joel Davies, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

Warm-up match: October 3-4, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 6pm AEST (10am local)

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster