South Africa: Australia batter Matt Renshaw said his unbeaten knock against South Africa was about assessing the match situation and maintaining positive intent as he helped the visitors recover from a top-order collapse on the opening day of the first Test at Kingsmead.
Renshaw remained unbeaten on 46 as Australia reached 187/6 before bad light and rain brought an early end to play on Friday. He shared an unbroken 63-run stand with captain Pat Cummins, who was batting on 33, after South Africa reduced the visitors to 124/6.
“It was just playing the situation as much as I could and having, yeah, I speak about trying to have good intent against both spin and pace, and that gets my body moving the way I want it to,” Renshaw said as quoted by Cricinfo.
The left-hander said his experience of batting in the middle order in one-day cricket had helped him prepare for the role in the Test side, allowing him to adapt to different match situations.
“I think in the one day as batting in that middle order shows, I’ve done it in the past in the middle order, and it shows that I can be pretty versatile. I think the thinking was just in that middle order, continuing on from a successful one day tour,” he said.
Renshaw also explained how he prepared for the possibility of batting at No. 5, a position that can require a player to wait for several hours before getting an opportunity at the crease.
He said he went to the nets during the lunch break and faced around 20 balls to get his eyes accustomed to the light and prepare his body for batting.
“I think for me, batting at five, the challenge is sitting around for a while and not batting. So I went and faced probably 20 balls in the nets at lunch when I knew I was going straight in,” Renshaw said.
Australia had elected to bat but lost Travis Head and Nic Maddinson early before Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith attempted to rebuild the innings. Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen then struck at regular intervals to leave the visitors in trouble.
“I think for me, batting at five, the challenge is sitting around for a while and not batting. So I went and faced probably 20 balls in the nets at lunch when I knew I was going straight in,” Renshaw said.
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Article Source: IANS