The Renegades pulled off one of the greatest come from behind wins in T20 cricket to claim their maiden BBL title. (BBL Twitter)The Melbourne Renegades beat city rivals Melbourne Stars by 13 runs to win their maiden Big Bash League title on Saturday. The Stars were cruising to victory before a stunning collapse saw them go from 93/0 in the 13th over 112/7 in the 18th while chasing a target of 146.
Renegades captain Glenn Maxwell (1), Peter Handscomb (0) and Dwayne Bravo (3) were all part of the collapse for the Stars after the Renegades had opener Marcus Stoinis (39 runs from 38 balls) bowled to make the initial breakthrough. Dan Christian, Chris Tremain and Cameron Boyce all took two wickets each for the Renegades.
Maxwell sent the Renegades in to bat first after winning the toss and the Stars pierced into the opposition’s top order in the powerplay overs. The Renegades slumped to 65/5 by the 11th over before Dan Christian and Tom Cooper shored up the innings. They ensured that no more wickets fell and the Renegades ended their innings on 145/5.
Legspinner Adam Zampa went for 11 runs in his first over, but recovered to post 2-21 from his four overs. Jackson Bird took 2-25 from three overs and helped force the run-out that got captain Aaron Finch out for 13 runs from 10 deliveries.
Renegades captain Aaron Finch, who recently admitted that the last six months were the “most difficult” of his career, was run out at the non-striker’s end after Bird stuck his boot out to a Cameron White drive that deflected onto the stumps.
Finch’s frustration at the unlucky dismissal was evident as cameras caught Australia’s one-day international captain twice belting a chair with his bat as he disappeared down the tunnel to the change rooms.
Stars’ openers Marcus Stoinis and Ben Dunk got them off to an almost chanceless start to the chase. They kept their big shots to the minimum and traded in singles and doubles as the Stars crossed the halfway mark of the innings without losing a wicket.
Stoinis was then dismissed by Cameron Boyce off the last ball of the 13th over when he got one bowled through his gates. It looked only a blemish in what could have been the perfect chase at that point. It turned out to be a trigger to a collapse that cost the Renegades the title.
Just three balls later, Peter Handscomb was dismissed for a duck after he was accounted for by Tremaine and the last ball of the next over saw Dunk falling to Boyce. Maxwell then attempted to send Tremain over the long leg boundary, it turned out to be a rather ordinary shot that sent the ball straight down the throat of deep square leg.
More to come…
