Australia captain Pat Cummins said that Matt Renshaw is likely to stay at number five for its second Test against South Africa beginning on Sunday after his match-winning performance in the first Test in Durban.
Renshaw produced scores of 190 and 82 batting at three-drop, and rescued Australia from a tricky position in the first innings to put it on its way to a 214-run win.
“After what Renners did last week, I presume he’ll stay at number five,” Cummins said.
“What he deserved even more credit for is that we’d asked him to do a different role and he just said straight away ‘yep, no worries, whatever the team needs’.
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“There were so many positives in addition to the runs he scored last week. He was a delight, and really helped me and Lyon get through those partnerships (with Renshaw).”
Cummins also said that the Australians were weighing up making changes to the composition of its attack with weather expected to play some part in the Test. Cameron Green will miss out as he continues to recover from an injury, but Nathan Lyon could also miss out.
“We always look at all options,” captain Pat Cummins said on Saturday. “We love playing with Nath. We saw last week, (he took) a couple of key wickets in the first innings. And even the control he gives. It makes the rest of us fast bowlers be able to function around him.”
(WIth inputs from Reuters)
Published on Oct 17, 2026
