Matt Renshaw to take a short break from cricket

Queensland and Australia's out-of-favour Test opener Matt Renshaw will take a short break from cricket in order to freshen up after being dropped from Queensland's Sheffield Shield team for the upcoming clash against Tasmania in Brisbane.

Renshaw, 23, missed out on Queensland's 12-man squad after scoring just 182 runs at 20.22 with a highest score of just 36 in 10 Sheffield Shield innings prior to the BBL. He had come out of the BBL as Brisbane Heat's second-highest run-scorer, which included three half-centuries, but made just 26 off 117 balls in Queensland's 2nd XI clash with Western Australia in Perth last week.

The return of Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne saw him squeezed out of Queensland's Shield top order with Bryce Street's form in his debut season entrenching him at the top, while Sam Heazlett made 125 for the Queensland's 2nd XI in their innings victory over WA.

Renshaw didn't play club cricket last Saturday for family reasons but was set to be selected in the Cricket Australia XI to face England Lions in a four-day game in Hobart starting this Saturday. It is understood he was initially keen to play but following a lengthy and arduous BBL and a 2nd XI trip to Perth last week it was decided, in conjunction with the Queensland management, that Renshaw should rest for a couple of weeks to freshen up.

He won't play club cricket for Toombul this weekend although rain is likely to wash out a majority of Queensland premier cricket games in Brisbane.

He will instead prepare for Queensland's next 2nd XI fixture which begins on February 24 against ACT/NSW Country although he may well come into consideration for Queensland's Sheffield Shield match against Victoria starting on the same date, with skipper Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne likely to be missing.

Khawaja will play in the Australia A clash with England Lions at the MCG starting on February 22 while Labuschagne will head to South Africa to join Australia's ODI squad ahead of the first ODI of a three-match series starting on February 29.

Renshaw has not been in Test calculations since the tour of the UAE in October 2018. After suffering a concussion whilst fielding at short leg in the warm-up game he was not selected for the two Tests against Pakistan despite being passed fit.

Since then he has averaged just 21.68 in 34 first-class games for Queensland and Kent with just two half-centuries. Australia have used six different Test openers in that period including Burns, Khawaja, David Warner, Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, and Cameron Bancroft.