When Renshaw met Mulder
Matt Renshaw's marathon 190 rescued Australia from 124/6, while Wiaan Mulder's four-wicket haul stood out amid South Africa's toil in the field
You could get a lot done in 25 hours and 18 minutes. Fly to anywhere closer than the moon. Build or 3D-print a basic house. Read a book. Make three complete batches of dhal makhani.
South Africa did none of the above at Kingsmead on Friday and Saturday. Instead they used that time to relinquish the advantage in the first Test against Australia.
The clock started ticking 11 overs before tea on Friday, when the gizmos claimed Beau Webster had hit the ball and not his pad — the visuals suggested the reverse — and was given out caught behind off Anrich Nortjé. The ticking stopped when Marco Jansen speared Nathan Lyon’s pads with a yorker, trapping him in the crease and bang in front.
When Webster got out Australia were 124/6. When Lyon left they were 364/9. When there were four wickets left in the innings it seemed unlikely that the visitors would score 240 more runs before they were dismissed. It was a long 25 hours and 18 minutes, even though only eight minutes short of six hours of it was spent on the field.
Central to all that was Matt Renshaw, who edged a tired drive off Simon Harmer to slip to end the innings two balls after Tea. Renshaw’s career-best 190 took him almost eight hours and 397 balls. A touch on the tall side at 1.94 metres for his cherubic face, moustache and all, he batted with an easy authority that allowed him to leave with aplomb and take singles apparently at will in order to keep or get off the strike.
Renshaw put on 86 with Pat Cummins to stop the slide and 134 with Nathan Lyon to turn the narrative of the match on its head. The latter is the biggest partnership for the ninth wicket Australia have scored against South Africa. Renshaw managed the stand as expertly as a corporate hostile takeover. He faced 194 balls, compared to Lyon’s 92, and scored exactly 100 of the runs.
The home side reached the close for the loss of Ryan Rickelton, who drove expansively at Cummins and was caught at third slip with the ninth delivery of the innings. Bad light ended the day’s play 43 balls later — more than an hour later than on Friday, but still robbing the day of 17.2 overs — with South Africa 363 behind.
“You again, mate,” a reporter asked Renshaw as he arrived for his press conference. His tanned, round face broke into a ready smile at that; he had also talked to reporters on Friday, when he was 46 not out at the enforced close.
Renshaw made his debut against South Africa in Adelaide in November 2016, scoring 10 and 34 not out. But his latest innings is only his 26th in a Test shirt, and just his second since February 2023.
He spoke of “all the stuff that has come in the last 10 years; all the hard work, all the failures, all the success”, and of unfurling “some of the weirdest shots I’ve ever played. I think the back foot, back away, drop to point was my favourite”.
And also of batting for so long with Lyon: “I had to calm him down a few times, when he got out of his bubble and played quite a few big drives. I walked down to him, and I was like, ‘Nathan, let’s just keep going.’ He called for [fresh] gloves and said, ‘Tell the guys I’m sorry; that was a bad shot.’”
Renshaw was followed to the microphones by Wiaan Mulder, who toiled for 27 overs for his 4/68. Nortjé worked an over harder, and Simon Harmer two balls harder than that. Marco Jansen worked harder than anyone: 31 overs for 3/68.
Still, Mulder was chipper when he took his seat, quipping, “This is what Tom Cruise feels like all the time.”
Told, not entirely seriously, that comparing himself to the Hollywood star might give the wrong impression, Mulder was quick to reply: “Similar looks, you know …”
But it wasn’t all sweetness and light. The problem with sending out a team’s best performer no matter whatever the situation is that they will be asked to explain what went wrong.
“I don’t think anything went wrong,” Mulder said. “They played well. We executed most of our plans. Maybe we could have all bowled a touch fuller. Maybe here and there we got tactical things wrong, but it was just a good innings [by Renshaw].”
Mulder didn’t look, seem or sound like someone who had been in the field for almost 10 hours, much of that time spent bowling on a flat pitch to batters who were well on top.
Maybe this is why: “I’m getting older, man. I’ve recently had a daughter [Isla, born last month], and in life things happen and you see things for what they are.
“I’ve worked hard on who I am as a person and I love playing for this team, and there was a stage in my career where I made it difficult to be selected. It’s about how I am going to get into this team. One thing is effort. The other is committing to who I am as a cricketer.
“I’ve always tried to bowl faster, and I’m pretty sure most of the media have written about me not bowling fast enough. I’ve always carried that with me. But there have been very successful bowlers of my pace, so it’s about accepting who you are and trying your best and being in the moment.”
Renshaw couldn’t have said it better. If cricket has gods they will see to it that he and Mulder have a beer together before this series is done.
