- Name: Melbourne Renegades
- Captain: Nic Maddinson
- Head Coach: David Saker
- Home Ground: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
- Squad members: 19 (15 + 4 overseas)
- Best result: Champions in BBL 2018/19
- BBL 2020/21 result: 8th on points table
They have always been one of the crowd favourites but sadly, results haven’t followed the Melbourne Renegades. However, they’ve made quite a few changes for the BBL 2021/22 season including appointing a new head coach in David Saker and becoming the first BBL team to sign an Indian player as well. The biggest change for them is making a change in captaincy as they replaced Aaron Finch who has led them since BBL 2012/13.
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Finch will always be a big part of this side as he’s played for the Renegades since his BBL debut and he’s the second highest run scorer in the history of the league, with 2,431 runs in 76 games at an average of 34+. They want him to play the role of senior mentor and focus on his batting, but the timing seems bad as Finchy just led Australia to its first ever T20 World Cup victory. He’s been replaced by Nic Maddinson!
Now let’s talk about why Maddinson isn’t the right fit as Renegades captain. Firstly, he’s just completing a move from Melbourne Stars and is yet to play a match for the Renegades. Secondly, his bat has never spoken in past seasons – Among the list of the top 40 run scorers in the history of the Big Bash League, he has the lowest average (21.49), clearly being a continuous under-achiever in BBL over the years.
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One mainstay in the batting order will be Shaun Marsh who has 20 fifties in his BBL career, which is second only to Chris Lynn. One may think that the 38-year old has lost touch but he got a couple of fifties for Western Australia in October 2021 and seems to be in good form. Around him as anchor in the Renegades, side, you can expect the likes of Marcus Harris and Mackenzie Harvey to play the attacking knocks.
Talking about age and experienced players, there’s overseas player Mohammad Nabi in the side who is coming off a successful T20 World Cup personally, where he also picked up a record 3/2 in 4 overs against West Indies in one of the warmup games. He’s sure to be one of the overseas picks and the management will have to choose between Zahir Khan, Unmukt Chand and Reece Topley for the other slot.
Among the pacers, they have Kane Richardson who is among the leading wicket takers in BBL history, just two short of reaching 100 wickets. And alongside him, he’ll have former national side pacer James Pattinson who decided to hang up his boots recently, so he’ll have all his interests in this league. If they want to play the extra pacer, they’ll pick England’s Reece Topley, or we think Zahir Khan could get the nod.
Melbourne Renegades – BBL 2021/22 Betting
We think this team has a few individual contributors and you can expect them to win a couple of games and finish in the middle of the table but they seem unlikely to go on to win the BBL 2021 title. As you can see, they’re up at attractive odds of 12.0 with Betway to win the tournament but that’s probably not a bet that we would suggest. Individual match betting for Renegades would make more sense!
We’re excited to see whether Cameron Boyce makes it back as he’s been out of action since early in 2020. He missed the last season of the BBL and has been a regular contributor to the wickets column whenever he’s played. If he’s fit to play, Zahir is unlikely to make the cut which means Topley from England could be the second overseas pick, or in fact they may even consider just playing a single overseas player!
Melbourne RENEGADES BBL 2021/22 squad: Nic Maddinson (C), Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Boyce, Zak Evans, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Josh Lalor, James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Will Sutherland, Reece Topley (Ovr), Unmukt Chand (Ovr), Mohammad Nabi (Ovr), Zahir Khan (Ovr).
For more updates on the progress of the Renegades in BBL 2021/22, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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