Cricket - South Africa v Australia - Fourth Test - Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa - April 2, 2018 Australia’s Matt Renshaw in action REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Matt Renshaw is blocking out Ashes speculation and focusing on his own game to give himself a chance to open the batting for Australia again.
The 14-test opener's chances have dwindled in recent years but things are looking up after a surprise call-up to the one-day squad to face India.
With Sam Konstas under pressure to keep his test spot after a poor tour of West Indies, Renshaw is among the names being tossed around as a candidate to open with Usman Khawaja against England in the series starting in Perth on November 21.
Not that Queensland batter Renshaw is keeping score against his domestic rivals.
"There's been times in my career where I come off after a (Sheffield) Shield game, and obviously all the Shield games are on at the same time, and you're looking at the scorecard, you're looking at different names, seeing how they went," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"Now .... I couldn't tell you who scored runs in other games.
"I was just trying to worry about our own game and trying to win for Queensland.
"I think that is a better place for me to be, otherwise I just get too caught up in other people and not worry about myself."
Not unlike Konstas, Renshaw, who bats left-handed, was once one of the country's brightest young prospects when called into the test squad at the age of 20 to play South Africa in the 2016 series.
He clubbed 184 against Pakistan in his fourth test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and looked set for a long stint at the top of the order.
However, he was dropped after a lean run of scores in the subcontinent in 2017 and has played only four tests since, his last against India in Delhi nearly three years ago.
Now 29, Renshaw is hopeful of having another run in test whites and believes being father to two young children has helped give him a sense of perspective.
"Now I go home and I've got to change nappies, I've got to put kids to bed, I've got to try and calm screaming babies down," he said.
"When you're young, you go home, you have got nothing to do, so you're just sitting on your phone scrolling."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
