Matt Renshaw incident comes to light as Australian cricket drama erupts

Nathan McAndrew revealed how a showdown with Matt Renshaw set off wild South Australian celebrations in their wake thrilling Sheffield Shield win over Queensland. The Redbacks beat the Bulls by just three runs on Thursday, with Jordan Buckingham dismissing Usman Khawaja for 114 for the last wicket.

It marked just the fifth time in Sheffield Shield history that a match was decided by three points or fewer, and the first since 2003 when NSW beat WA by two points. Buckingham and his teammates celebrated in celebration after Khawaja’s dismissal, but it wasn’t just the thrilling finish that encouraged them.

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Speaking after the match, McAndrew revealed that the South Australian players were unhappy with Renshaw’s actions following his dismissal. After being caught on the leg off the bowling of McAndrew, Renshaw went straight into the Redbacks pack as he made his way off the ground.

Renshaw, who appeared to have his head down and didn’t see the South Australian players, crashed into the back of one of his opponents before walking around the pack. He could then be seen exchanging a few terse words with the Redbacks players, who told him the correct way back to the shed.

“Matt Renshaw made quite an interesting decision, the way he tried to get off the field earlier in the morning,” McAndrew told reporters at Adelaide Airport. “He had some choice words for us at the time, which was quite bizarre.

“You don’t expect to see that from a batter when he’s out. There was no discussion before, so it was an interesting move on his part to try to light that fire. But those who laugh last, laugh the loudest.

“It adds a bit of fuel to the fire, but at the end of the day you’re just trying to win the game regardless of what happened or not. Jordan Buckingham just came on huge for us there. He is as competitive as anyone. I’ve only ever met, so it was absolutely no surprise that he was able to come home to us at that time.”

Usman Khawaja’s heroics are not enough for Queensland

McAndrew was the hero for South Australia, taking nine wickets for the match. “He’s a serious player. Within our group, he’s so highly regarded,” Buckingham said of McAndrew. “There is no doubt that one day it will be in full green.”

Buckingham took 3-83 in the second innings and bounced back after managing to lose some ground from the Bulls batsmen. “Definitely the best game of cricket I’ve ever been involved in. What a moment,” he said. “I kept fighting. I feel one of my strengths is to never give up. The boys played absolutely brilliantly. (Khawaja) is an international class player and he showed that today. It was outstanding.”

Playing his first match in over a month due to a “workload” edict from Cricket Australia, Khawaja came very close to bringing Queensland home. After Renshaw’s dismissal was part of a terrible start for the Bulls, Khawaja and Joe Burns (91) put on 168 for the third wicket.

The Bulls still looked firmly in control at 4-219 while chasing 273, but lost their last eight wickets for just 91 runs. Khawaja and No.11 Mitch Swepson made 20 runs for the last wicket, but eventually fell short by just three runs.

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