Matt Renshaw dragged Australia out of serious trouble on day two of the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban, batting through the morning session to post his first Test century since January 2017. Resuming on a precarious 187 for 6 overnight, Australia had slipped to 124 for 6 the previous day before Renshaw and the tail began to repair the innings, and reached 277 for 8 at lunch, with Renshaw unbeaten on 102 off 218 balls and Nathan Lyon keeping him company at the other end. Renshaw continued to bat on into the afternoon session as Australia looked to extend the total further.
Australia's innings had been in real danger on day one, reduced to 124 for 6 as Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder struck twice each with the returning Anrich Nortje also finding success on his first Test appearance in over three years. Renshaw, who had been at the crease since the middle of the collapse, found support from Pat Cummins to see out the rest of day one unbeaten, before extending the rearguard through day two to reach his century shortly before lunch.
It is only Renshaw's second Test century, and his first since a hundred for Australia in January 2017 — a gap of close to a decade that included being dropped from the Test side before a recall this year on the back of strong domestic and ODI form. For a player who has had to fight for his place, an innings that single-handedly steadied an innings in serious trouble on a tour of South Africa carries extra weight.
Mulder was the pick of the home attack, finding movement with the new ball, while Jansen and Nortje shared the rest of the early damage. South Africa will be disappointed not to have made further inroads once Renshaw got going, with the Kingsmead pitch offering less for the bowlers as the match progressed into its second day. Nortje's figures on his first appearance in more than three years will matter as much to South Africa's longer-term planning as the immediate state of this Test, given the control he showed early before Renshaw settled in.
Underpinning the recovery was Nathan Lyon's willingness to simply occupy the crease at the other end, giving Renshaw the strike and the time to rebuild the innings rather than trying to force the pace himself. It is exactly the kind of lower-order application Australia have needed on tours where their top order has struggled, and it kept South Africa's bowlers in the field for long, unbroken stretches through the middle of the day.
With three days remaining in a match already shaped by South Africa's decision to go into the Test without Kagiso Rabada, the final total Australia post from here, and how long their last pair of wickets can hold out, will largely determine whether this opening Test of the three-match series becomes a genuine contest or an Australian platform to build a big lead.
Live scores and ball-by-ball updates from the remainder of the match are available on SportGod's live matches page, with data-backed match forecasts on SportGod's predictions page.
Scores and individual figures in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked reporting as of the afternoon session on day two, October 10, 2026; play was still in progress at the time of writing and the article does not reflect the close-of-play total.
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