Renshaw: It’s tough at top for Australia

CRICKET: If there was one person in Australia who could’ve taken some comfort from Cameron Bancroft’s lacklustre Ashes series it was Matthew Renshaw.

After all, it was Bancroft who was called up to take the Queenslander’s opening spot ahead of the all-important Ashes series on home soil.

Bancroft finished the summer under pressure after a string of low scores, including a seven-ball duck in the fifth Test at the SCG to close out the series.

But rather than gloat, the classy Renshaw could only empathise with his fellow rising star – knowing that three months ago it was he who was under the gun.

The 21-year-old was dropped from Australia’s squad after failing to pass 50 in his last nine Test innings and a rough start to the Sheffield Shield season.

“I know the scenario he’s been in and I think it’s tough,” Renshaw said.

“You don’t want people to do badly when they’re playing for their country. You want them to do well.

“He could be a bit hard done by, the media has obviously been playing it up quite a bit.

“(But) he’s got the backing of the coach and the captain.”

Bancroft failed to cash in against the English, scoring just 179 runs at an average of 25.57 but earned the backing of coach Darren Lehmann.

“He would like bigger scores as you always would as a batsman, but some of our starts have been exceptional, especially early on in the series,” Lehmann said.

“You’ve got a young guy there learning his craft. He’s got a great work ethic. We’re pretty happy with him.”

Renshaw, however, admitted he hadn’t given up hope of reclaiming his spot in Australia’s squad to head to South Africa next month for the four-match series.

The youngster looked a long-term prospect after a brilliant debut summer last year, which he capped off with 184 against Pakistan last January. But he endured difficult tours of India and Bangladesh.

“You want to try and play in as many Test series as possible,” Renshaw said.

“You see the South African team playing against India at the moment, it’s a strong outfit. If I can get the opportunity to go over there and score a lot of runs it will be really good for my confidence and my game.”

Renshaw will captain a Cricket Australia XI against England in a one-day tour match at Canberra’s Drummoyne Oval today – his first match outside of Brisbane grade cricket in a month.

“I have just had a few weeks where I have been training quite hard and working on a few things away from cricket, which has been nice,” he said.

“I had a good weekend of grade cricket (scoring 85, 107 and 77 in T20 matches for Toombul) but obviously one weekend is not enough to try and get in that team.”