Renshaw made 190 at No. 5 — and Cummins says good luck moving him back

When Australia named their XI for the first Test at Kingsmead, cricket Twitter did what cricket Twitter does — it panicked. Matt Renshaw, who'd clawed his way back into the side as an opener just one Test ago in Darwin, was being shunted down to No. 5. Nic Maddinson, whose last Test was six years ago, was taking his spot at the top.

The logic sounded like a stretch at the time. Pat Cummins watched Renshaw sweep, reverse-sweep, and milk singles through the middle overs in the ODI series against South Africa and thought: this man might be more dangerous lower down. Against two spinners in Durban, Australia wanted Renshaw's ability to rotate strike and absorb pressure in the middle order, not face the new ball.

Maddinson made a 33-ball duck on Day 1. The gamble looked cooked before lunch. Then Renshaw walked in at 84 for 4, and everything changed.

Australia were 124 for 6 when the situation was at its ugliest. Six wickets down, the top order in ruins, and a South African attack that smelled blood. This was the exact scenario where a newly repositioned batsman — one who hadn't batted in the middle order in Tests since India 2023 — was supposed to struggle with the adjustment.

Instead, Renshaw batted for nearly two days. He faced 397 deliveries. He scored 190 — the highest by a No. 5 at Kingsmead, and the fourth-highest by any Australian in Test cricket in South Africa. He rebuilt the innings with Pat Cummins (43) in a critical partnership, then put on 134 with Nathan Lyon at No. 10 to drag Australia from rubble to 390.

In the second innings, he added 82 and picked up 2/30 with his part-time off-spin. Player of the Match. Australia won by 214 runs. The opener-turned-middle-order-batsman had just produced the performance of the series.

Renshaw himself seems almost relieved. He described the switch in practical terms, not emotional ones — no talk of being dropped or demoted, just adjustment.

He pointed to his ODI form as proof the role suited him. "With the one-dayers, it shows I can be pretty versatile," he said. On the mental challenge of waiting to bat — something openers never have to deal with — he was disarmingly honest: "For me it's not too much of an issue. It's just waiting to bat." Then the qualifier: "It's probably the toughest part for me, and it's been a while since I had done that."

That last line is the most revealing. An opener's rhythm is built around the start of play — pads on, walk out, face the new ball. At No. 5, you sit in the dressing room and watch your teammates bat, and bat, and sometimes get out quickly enough that you're walking to the crease before you've settled. It's a completely different mental exercise, and Renshaw made it look like he'd been doing it for years.

Here's where it gets complicated. Cameron Green missed the first Test with an abdominal strain but could return for the second in Gqeberha. Green is a No. 6 or No. 7 in Australia's natural order — a batting all-rounder who bowls pace and gives the XI balance.

If Green is fit, where does he slot in? If Renshaw stays at 5, and Maddinson opens, the middle order suddenly has Renshaw, Green, and the returning Green competing with Cooper Connolly and Beau Webster for spots. Something has to give.

The simplest solution — move Renshaw back to opener and drop Maddinson — is exactly what Cummins has pushed back against. He wants a "compelling case" to shift Renshaw upwards. Which means Maddinson might survive his duck because the system is now built around Renshaw at 5.

Australian cricket hasn't had a batting-order puzzle this interesting since Steve Smith was shuffled around during the Ashes. The difference is that Smith was Smith. Renshaw is a player who has spent his entire career searching for certainty — and just found it in the last place anyone expected.

The broader lesson from Durban is that rigid positional thinking in Test cricket is dying. The idea that an opener is always an opener, that a No. 5 requires a different skillset — it's increasingly outdated. Renshaw's 397-ball epic was built on exactly the skills you want from an opener: patience, discipline, the ability to bat long. He just deployed them from a different starting point in the innings.

Cummins saw this before anyone else. He watched the ODIs and noticed that Renshaw's game against spin — the sweeps, the rotated strike, the composure — was better utilised against a tired ball than a new one. It was a captain's instinct backed by real evidence, and it worked spectacularly.

The second Test at St George's Park starts Saturday. The pitch in Gqeberha typically offers pace and bounce, less spin. The case for Renshaw at 5 might look different there. But after 190 and 82, the man himself is settled, the captain is publicly backing the move, and the conversation has shifted from "should Renshaw open?" to "can anyone make a compelling case to move him?"

Right now, nobody can.