Matt Renshaw reached his half-century with an uncommon seven runs in the warm-up match against Pakistan. The 27-year-old sent Mir Hamza on a long chase after playing Abrar Ahmed to deep extra cover in the 78th over of the four-day encounter. Throwing the ball towards the non-striker’s end, the bowler was able to keep it from hitting the fence.
Babar Azam, the former captain, grabbed the ball early and flung it in the direction of the striker in the hopes of forcing a run-out. But instead of hitting the stumps, the ball flew straight to the fence, evading the grasp of goalie Sarfaraz Ahmed. With that, Matt Renshaw scored seven runs off of a single delivery to finish his half-century in the most peculiar way possible. Commentators described Pakistan’s performance as “very sloppy,” pointing out that the squad has to instantly improve in fielding if they are to win the series against Australia.
You don’t see this every day! Matthew Renshaw brings up his half-century … with a seven! #PMXIvPAK pic.twitter.com/0Fx1Va00ZE
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 8, 2023
Matt Renshaw reaches his century as the PMXI defeats Pakistan.
Pakistan’s bowling unit seems quite mediocre without Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, and Mohammad Wasim Jr.; after three days, the Prime Minister XI were only behind by 24 runs. Renshaw concluded the day with 136* after hitting a beautiful century. Renshaw is hoping to rejoin the Australian team after David Warner retires. Although both 53-year-old Cameron Bancroft and 49-year-old Marcus Harris played excellent cricket, they were unable to build on their early leads.
Conversely, Cameron Green scored 46 runs. The all-rounder needed to play well with the bat to guarantee his spot in the opening Test, since Mitchell Marsh now holds a tiny advantage over him. With a 40-run inning from captain Nathan McSweeney, the home team leads the Shan Masood-led team at the moment. In order to have the opportunity to bat again on the last day of the warm-up match, Pakistan will now want to bundle them out early on Day 4.