‘That’s the thinking’: Lid lifted on shock reshuffle as under-fire Aussie backed in
“Who is going to open the 2nd innings!” | 00:27
Courtney Walsh from Fox SportsOctober 10th, 2026 2:21 am
With Australia’s hopes of posting a significant first innings score in Durban resting on his shoulders, Matt Renshaw declared he had no worries with being moved around the batting order as criticism mounted on Friday.
The left-field decision to choose Nic Maddinson as a late replacement for the highly-anticipated South African series was usurped on Friday by a move to promote him to open alongside Travis Head that clearly backfired.
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It drew significant criticism from former greats including Mark Waugh and Simon Katich who have been warning that the Australia’s unorthodox approach to an established batting order was a form of high-stakes gambling.
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“It looks like the selectors are throwing some darts at the dartboard and hoping to get a bullseye, hoping something’s going to pay off,” Waugh said on Kayo Cricket.
“I think there’s a lot of gambling going on. A lot of gambling going on. I mean, the players will say they’ll bat anywhere, but any player likes to really know their role.”
Just over a month after returning to the Australian Test team in place of discarded opener Jake Weatherald, who was placed on a national contract and then sacked just one match in to the new season, Renshaw was suddenly shifted to No.5.
It meant that Maddinson, who has not played first class cricket since early 2025, was thrust to the top of the order as Australia fielded its 12th opening partnership since the retirement of David Warner.
Maddinson exposes selectors ‘gamble’ | 01:18
Renshaw had no issues with batting at No.5, having done so with success in ODI cricket recently, and it also gave him the chance to flourish at a time the ball was softer and throwing up fewer challenges for the batsmen.
“I just prepare as much as I can for whatever,” he said.
“I think me in the one dayers, batting in that middle order, shows I’ve done it in the past in middle order and it shows that I can be pretty versatile. That was the thinking, just … continuing on from that successful one-day tour.”
But the Queenslander felt for his fellow left-hander Maddinson, who was particularly scratchy when making a 33-ball duck, though his innings could have been cut in half had South Africa sent a call for LBW upstairs on the 14th ball he faced.
“I don’t think that was the case. I think it is just what opening batters have to deal with,” Renshaw said.
“I think we all know how hard it is to do that, and unfortunately for Maddo, it wasn’t to be today. But we know that cricket’s a weird old game sometimes.
“I think sometimes you feel like (it is) just one of those days and he’ll come out the other side of that and he’ll be fine. It’s just cricket.”
Head, who fell for nine when getting a fine edge to a ball travelling down the leg-side, had foreshadowed the prospect of a reshuffle earlier in the week, but the change left some former stars almost speechless.
“Things move and we have been open about that,” Head said on Wednesday.
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“I think Ron and Pat have been open about rolling orders and batting positions. I would say nothing is ever locked in. The team is always trying to evolve. I think you have seen the order change between Australia and the subcontinent … and whatever the line-up is on Friday will be the line-up we think will hold us in the best position to win the Test match.”
Marnus downed on the stroke of lunch | 01:51
While the match started under a blazing blue sky, data from CricViz suggested the conditions were difficult for batters and Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and the returning Anrich Nortje proved a handful for the Australians on a green pitch.
It was a familiar tale for Australia. Failures at the top of the order meant that Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were at the crease inside an hour. But they started in promising fashion, only to lose momentum on either side of the lunch break.
Labuschagne was out on the last ball of the opening session and Smith in the first over after lunch, which reduced Australia to 4-84.
But Renshaw and Pat Cummins, who had implored the Australians before the match to grind through difficult situations, did exactly that to guide the tourists to 6-187 when bad light saw stumps called at 4pm after just 65 overs.
With Katich saying it is possible a first innings score of 250 could prove to be par given the challenges posed by the pitch on the first day, Renshaw felt their unbeaten 63-run partnership had started to wrest the momentum back.
“Definitely,” he said.
“I think (there were) moments in the game there where I felt like we were getting close to having the foot on the throat, and probably Kez and I were very close (to that).
“We got through a good spell from Jansen after lunch, and then a good spell from Nortje (and) I think we were very close to then getting the foot on the throat.
“Unfortunately, Kez got out there and then with Paddy, it was just about rebuilding and scoring when we could, Paddy getting a few balls in his area and me probably being a bit more content with dot balls.”
Maddinson dealt 33-ball duck in return | 00:45
Source: www.foxsports.com.au
