Matt Renshaw addresses being 'not too far away' to comeback into Australia squad

After David Warner retired from Test cricket, Steven Smith was promoted to opening. The star batter was tested in the series against West Indies and New Zealand, but he failed to make a mark and will now be back at number four. That opened the room for an opener once again. Four top-order batters - Nathan McSweeney, Matt Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris were in contention to be Usman Khawaja’s partner as ultimately, the Australian team management put their money on McSweeney.

His performance for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield impressed the selectors and, following which, the 25-year-old made it to the squad for the first Test against India in Perth. Overall, the Queensland-born played 34 first class matches in his career, scoring 2252 runs at an average of 38.16.

In the meantime, Renshaw opened up on missing the call-up and stated that many others might have been hurt. He added to be happy for McSweeney, but is resilient to work harder and add more Test caps to his name.

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“I am really happy for Nathan. I think he is going to do a terrific job but for us openers, I think [the decision] last week might have hurt a lot of us. We know how tough opening is and the satisfaction of batting for a long period of time is why we do the job, facing the toughest bowlers with a brand-new ball at their freshest,” said Renshaw while speaking to AAP.

“Definitely. I feel like I am not too far away. Obviously, timing is huge in cricket. I missed my time on this occasion, but there will be another time in the future when I have to be ready,” the 28-year-old added.

Notably, Renshaw recently played an unbeaten knock of 72 runs against South Australia. However, consistency has been a major issue and for the same reason, the Australian team management preferred McSweeney over him.