How failures helped Renshaw achieve his magnum opus

Matt Renshaw has admitted he once thought he'd blown his last chance as a Test cricketer, before becoming Australia's saviour in the series opener against South Africa.

Almost a decade after his last hundred as a baby-faced 20-year-old, Renshaw produced one of the finest overseas hands by an Australian in recent times, his marathon 190 leading Australia from 6-124 to a total of 390 on day two in Durban.

He did so with the brilliant aid of Pat Cummins (43) and Nathan Lyon (27), producing Australia's best ninth-wicket partnership since 1894 with the latter as they added 134 together. 

Renshaw's maiden Test hundred arrived in January 2017, in his fourth match. The 184 he made against Pakistan in Sydney was a generation ago in the context of Australian cricket; current captain Cummins had played just one Test match and was still a couple of months from forcing his way back into the side.

The Queenslander looks a far more complete player now, having been through the mill of first-class cricket – an experience that even bottomed out with him taking a brief timeout from the game after he was dropped from the Bulls' Sheffield Shield side in February 2020.  

Since that low point, he appears to have benefited from both parenthood and an expanded game – the latter highlighted by his notable improvements in white-ball cricket – and after debuting for Australia in ODI and T20I cricket in the past 12 months, he was recalled to open in the second Test against Bangladesh in August.

"I had the opportunity in 2023 and didn't take it," said the 30-year-old, who has been dropped from the Test side three times in his 16-match career. "So you probably think you're never going to get this opportunity again. It was pretty emotional, pretty special."

"All the stuff that I've done in the past 10 years has led me to this moment. I wouldn't be where I was without all the failures.

"We're quick to judge failures, but I think ... some of the best learning has come from those failures ... It culminated in this."

After head coach Andrew McDonald had spoken last week about the importance of lower-order runs and being willing to get into grind, Renshaw expertly helped Australia deliver on both fronts.

The Yorkshire-born product was on 69 when Lyon came to the crease, and from that point controlled the strike masterfully as South Africa were guilty of letting the game drift.

The 30-year-old joked he was fine with missing out on a double century because he "probably turned down 40 or 50 runs", all the while lecturing Lyon at times to keep the spinner in his bubble.

"I always wanted that second (Test century). I had the monkey off the back early with that first one," Renshaw said. "But this one, all the stuff that has come in the last 10 years, all the hard work, all the failures, all the success. This was nice just for me to get.

"So when I hit the ball, I was screaming at it, it was just 'go, go, go'. It all just hit me at once."

So good was Renshaw's innings, Australia look likely to have another selection headache with regards to what they do with the left-hander.

Nic Maddinson's selection and 33-ball duck drew widespread criticism on Friday, with the call in turn bumping Renshaw down to No.5 after he impressed in the middle order in ODIs.

But the question now will be: if Renshaw is this settled in the middle order, do Australia want to move him back to open once Cameron Green or Josh Inglis returns?

He was busy against the spin on Friday, and hit most of his early boundaries against the quicks behind square in the first half of his innings.

After bringing up his half-century in the first over on Saturday, Renshaw got through a tough period with the second new ball just after Cummins fell.

But as the morning went on he became more comfortable, cover-driving and cutting speedster Anrich Nortje for two boundaries in one over. 

He then hit his 204th ball from Marco Jansen to the long-on boundary to bring up his century, prompting a long embrace with Lyon as part of a joyous celebration.

After lunch he started reverse-sweeping the spinners to the boundary and even uppercut Nortje for six.

Renshaw eventually edged spinner Simon Harmer to slip two balls after tea, but by that point his 397-ball stay had ensured Australia were well on top, and after a decade of waiting, the 30-year-old had another moment in Baggy Green to savour.

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

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

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)

South Africa's first Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

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