Renegades in retreat
AS WE usher in a new year, the Big Bash is in full swing and one of the Melbourne teams — courtesy of a late overseas inclusion — is sitting nicely while the other with overseas late withdrawals is really struggling.
The Stars are on top of the table and the Renegades are on the bottom.
Tonight at the MCG it’s possibly the last roll of the dice for the reigning champions to stay alive in the competition this summer.
Lose tonight and it’s highly unlikely they will even qualify for the finals even with an expanded top five setup this summer.
The Renegades have had big changes mainly off the field with a new inexperienced head coach Michael Klinger appointed, plus other support staff changes.
The other major change is Cricket Victoria retaking charge of the franchise.
That said, the majority of f last year’s championship win- ning team still remains, yet they are winless after five matches and floundering at the e bottom of the table.
They are in real trouble.
The departure of highly respected Cameron White to the Adelaide Strikers was counteracted with the inclusion of the dangerous and experienced Shaun Marsh from the West.
With his recruitment came great expectation of back-toback title defence. They now must simply find a way to beat their cross-town rivals tonight or perish.
They won last year’s title, which they incidentally stole from the Stars in a cliffhanger final they had no right to win. The Stars will be seeking redemption.
The Renegades’ overseas late inclusions — English medium pace bowlers Richard Gleeson and Harry Gurney — have been poor. They have taken just five wickets between them and both are going at 10 runs per over.
Their inclusions were somewhat forced upon the Renegades last minute but the reality is they are not top-quality overseas signings.
The overseas players need to be impact players with a point of difference, not just the same as what is on offer as club players in Australia.
Afghanistan international Mohammed Nabi’s arrival will be crucial to a late-season resurgence, but sadly it may well be too late for the Renegades.
The Stars pulled a master stroke at the start of the series by picking up uncapped Pakistani Harris Rauf who was playing club cricket in Hb Hobart. t
The truth be known the Hobart Hurricanes had him there in the background ready to swoop but the Stars got him first when South African legend Dale Steyn arrived injured.
Rauf had become a replacement for the injured Sandeep Laminchanne, who returns against the Renegades.
The Stars will be somewhat disappointed tonight that both their original overseas signings are fully fit, hence squeezing Rauf off their roster.
It’s fair to say Rauf has been a sensation.
He is fast and straight and getting good players out.
He has stamped himself and will be hot property in the future. He has a point of differenc ence with extreme pace.
The exclusion of Glenn Maxwell from the Australian ODI team to tour India is a blessing in disguise for the Stars.
He is a match winner and gives the Stars real X factor.
The disappointing form of Nic Maddinson at the top of the order is a concern but he’s likely to come out tonight and smack them to all parts.
That’s Maddinson, he’s very hot and cold, but when he’s hot he is red hot.
Ben Dunk, who was a longterm signing, has once again struggled in the early part of the season and needs runs to maintain his position in the team.
The Stars are on top but I still don’t think they are flying just yet. They are still susceptible to ugly batting collapses, evident again on Thursday when they stumbled over the line against Sydney Thunder.
Peter Handscomb will be a big loss when he travels to India with the Australian ODI team as they need a steady head amongst the chaos that is common in the Stars batting line up.
The Brisbane Heat has been the other big disappointment with an all-out attack mentality that has come unstuck almost every time except the night Chris Lynn went berserk against Sydney Sixers.
Lynn is the most explosive player in the world and on his day is unstoppable. Sadly, his days are too few and far between.
The Heat needs AB de villiers urgently otherwise, like the Renegades, it will fade into the lower end of the table.
Perth Scorchers look severely undermanned and are playing poorly. They have lost many good players in recent times and unless Mitch Marsh delivers big runs they will struggle to be around at the business end.
Their overseas signings are also somewhat underwhelming. Chris Jordan can certainly field, but sadly the Scorchers need him to bowl and bat as his main skills and neither are very threatening.
His bowling is steady at best. His batting is hit and miss in the middle to lower order.
The real surprise packet has been the Sydney Thunder and Callum Ferguson has hit a rich vein of form at No.3.
His strike rate has never been good enough to bat at that position in the past as he chews up too many valuable balls in the powerplay.
He seems to have made adjustments to his method and leading the way very well for the Thunder.
Bowler Daniel Sams continues to grow in stature as a short form cricketer. Alex Hales has been well below par so far and has plenty of upside.
They loom as the dark horse.
The Big Bash has become a staple on our TVs over the summer holidays and the cricket on offer has been, in the majority, very entertaining.
The player access is unprecedented and full credit to the players for their engagement.
That said, some of the roaming interviews conducted by the players post match have been root-canal filling stuff.
Maybe leave the interviews to the experts and let the players play?