’Gades win – no choke
MELBOURNE is red and so is the face of every Star.
Yesterday’s grand final choke by the green team was as big as some of the stars who have worn the club’s colours.
From Shane Warne to Viv Richards to Kevin Pietersen and Michael Clarke, and led by president Eddie McGuire, the Stars have always tried to be the biggest dog in the Big Bash.
But after eight seasons, only the Stars and the Hobart Hurricanes are without a trophy.
Renegades coach Andrew McDonald and captain Aaron Finch have compiled the nearperfect T20 campaign.
The ’Gades lost Finch and Marcus Harris for the first half of the season and Afghanistan star Mohammad Nabi for the finals, yet they never lost their way.
The Renegades are a team of bit-players, evidenced by posting just three half-centuries for the summer.
Stars captain Glenn Maxwell seemed certain to break the club’s duck in his 50th game for the club, before the unthinkable happened.
Set just 146 to win on a friendly pitch, the Stars were cruising at 0-93 after just 77 balls at Marvel Stadium, where they had won their past six games.
It was the equivalent of Collingwood’s five-goal lead in last year’s AFL grand final. Unfortunately for dual president McGuire, both teams crashed to dramatic defeats.
The wicket of opener Marcus Stoinis was converted into 2-1 before becoming 3-6, 4-6, 5-15, 6-15 and 7-19. Yes, 7-19 against a world-class batting line-up. What on earth?
Renegades hero Dan Christian said after Friday night’s semi-final that they had often relied on “pulling a rabbit out
of the hat” with the bat this season.
But Finch pulled a colony of rabbits out of his red cap with the ball yesterday, as the Stars went snap, crackle, pop at the hands of his attack.
Simply, it was an array of terrible shots as a championship was lost in 20 minutes of madcap cricket.
The Stars’ miserable history suddenly reads like this: eight Big Bash seasons, seven semifinal finishes, two grand finals and zero titles.
The ’Gades had no second spinner to Cameron Boyce, but a great mix of slower balls by Harry Gurney and Christian delivered at the death.
Cameron White’s screams of elation were surely the loudest as the Renegades celebrated their 13-run victory.
Four summers ago, the Stars let their captain go, leaving White to pick up his BBL career at the cross-town rivals.
What about Dwayne Bravo? He walked out on the red team 12 months ago to chase a championship with the Stars, but his miserable time with the bat continued.