Australia have included Queensland batsman Matt Renshaw for the fourth and final Test against South Africa. The left-hander will depart from Australia on Tuesday evening at the end of the Sheffield Shield Final where he is involved with Queensland against Tasmania. Renshaw’s inclusion comes at the time when Australian cricket is under serious turmoil following the admission of ball-tampering in the third Test.
Renshaw will replace either off Steve Smith or Cameron Bancroft. While Smith has been suspended for the next Test, there are also possibilities that Bancroft might miss the next Test match with the allegations charged against him. Renshaw will fly to Johannesburg on Tuesday evening to join the rest of the squad which has come under fire after Cameron Bancroft’s ball-tampering attempt was caught on camera.
South Africa is currently leading the Test series 2-1 and Faf du Plessis will certainly look to take advantage of Smith's absence in the next Test match which starts March 30.
Renshaw has played ten Test matches for Australia with his last appearance coming in Bangladesh in 2017. In the ten matches, he has amassed 623 runs with a best of 184 runs at an average of 36.64.
The fourth Test resumes at Wanderers on Friday with South Africa in the lead – both in the series and psychologically following the ball-tampering scandal.
With Steve Smith suspended and Bancroft fined 75 percent of his match fees, Cricket Australia will further decide on the "leadership group" who said that it was Smith who masterplanned the incident.
Meanwhile, other senior players of the squad like Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc have denied their participation in the act which saw his captain being suspended for a Test match. Possibilities are that Cricket Australia might ask Steve Smith to step down from captaincy while coach Darren Lehmann might also be asked to resign from his post.
In the immediate aftermath of the scandalous confession, captain Smith and vice-captain David Warner were stood down from their posts for the remainder of the Newlands Test that the visitors lost by 322 runs.
