Patience pays off for Matt Renshaw as he breaks 119 year old Australian record
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Matt Renshaw has impressed all with his maturity while batting in the current series. In the process, he has also broken Clint Hill's record for most runs for Australia before the age of 21 in this tour and his former coach, Phil Jaques says that his patience is the key to his success in India.
Coming into the ongoing India Vs. Australia Test series not many had predicted that Matt Renshaw would have played a big role in the series. Three matches into the series, he has faced more balls than anyone else (567), which is more than Virat Kohli, David Warner and Murali Vijay combined, scoring 223 runs in the process at an average of 37.16.
In the process, the Queenslander has also broken Clint Hill’s 119-year-old record for most Test runs for Australia before the age of 21. He now sits in the august company of Phillip Hughes, Don Bradman, Doug Walters, Stan McCabe, Archie Jackson and Neil Harvey. And though he’s yet to get a big score in the tournament, Renshaw’s former Queensland coach and Aussie opener Phil Jaques is impressed, but not surprised by Renshaw’s performances, so far.
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo Jaques said, "He's able to implement a plan and not veer from that plan. Watching the series in India, I think he's done that really, really well ... I think he's structured his defense really well. He's worked hard on his defense and he's hitting the ball with the spin as much as he can.”
Jaques attributed Renshaw’s success to the patience that he has shown on the tour and said that he has always been this way. "Those have been the big things with him. He's been incredibly patient and really waited for something that's in his area to score, and found a way of keeping the other stuff out. And if it does go past the edge, he hasn't been too bothered about it."
Renshaw earlier showed similar kind of patience to score his maiden first-class ton against New South Wales in December 2015, when he was still only 19. Renshaw batted for almost nine hours to end with 170 from 395 balls in difficult batting conditions.
Jaques acknowledged this innings as the turning point in his perception of Renshaw saying, "I'd seen glimpses of the way he could apply himself before that, but that was the one innings where I thought 'geez, this kid can bat time and apply himself'."
"I think that's exactly what's been needed in India. Watching from the outside it looks like every ball has been a challenge. Every ball is like a new contest, a battle within a battle, and Matt looks like he's definitely been up for that.”
Jaques believes that Renshaw’s patience is ahead of his age and that his ability to not give into the situation at hand is an asset. “It's definitely rare [in such young players]. I've seen Matt face over 30 balls for zero, and he could have gone another 50 and not been bothered. That is a very, very rare quality to have, to not be bothered by a situation that's thrown at you. It's like water off a duck's back to him. It's pleasing to see that four-day mindset can be so prevalent in a young guy. He's definitely set himself up for success with that mindset."
Intriguingly, Renshaw is yet to play a T-20 match at the international level and Jaques believes that this may have helped his natural patience flourish. "With the invention of T20 cricket and more one-day cricket being played, there's a need for players to have a lot more shots than they used to. Being able to work out when to play those shots for different conditions is a skill, and it's probably a less important skill in the minds of some younger players now, in general. That's what I'm seeing from a coaching perspective. You've got to have shots, but you've got to know when to use them, and you've got to have the temperament to rein that game back in when the conditions aren't in your favor. That's something Matt does really well. He's got all the shots, but he knows when to choose them and use them. He's definitely got all the shots to play those short forms of the game."
“He's got a very clear plan of how he's going about it and it's bringing him success already now, but I think his strike-rate will definitely go up over time, the more confidence he gets in the environment. There's a lot of distractions at that level, but he's taken them in his stride, and more importantly he's played with a smile on his face."
