There is no end to Renegades' misery as Finch and Co. lose seven in a row

Melbourne Renegades’ miserable Big Bash League (BBL) 10 campaign continued on its distraught path as Aaron Finch and co. lost yet another match which they should have won. The Renegades were beaten comprehensively by a huge margin of 60 runs to the Adelaide Strikers, even while chasing a chaseable total of 172 runs at the Adelaide Oval. 

Match Was Over by 10th Over

Although the scorecard will show that the match was out of the reach of Renegades probably after the power surge, the match for the Red Machine was lost in the 10th over itself when they needed four runs to get from that over to get the Bash Boost point. But, instead of going for those runs, Mohammad Nabi decided to play three balls and got only one run, even as Sam Harper had got out playing a rash short just before him. 

With one ball in hand, young Mackenzy Harvey needed to score three runs. But of course, he could not as Danny Briggs bowled a brilliant over to defend the four runs, giving away just a solitary single. 

Gades Can't Seem to Get Out of the Hole

Renegades got into a hole after that and much like every match, in this game too, there was no coming out of it. Even after losing Aaron Finch off the first ball, the ‘Gades had an impressive start courtesy of some cracking shots from two youngsters in Harper and Harvey. They put on 67 runs off 55 balls but most importantly set up a platform for the likes of Nabi, Beau Webster, and Jake Fraser-McGurk to get on with it.

But that did not happen as Nabi was choked for runs and even after playing 16 balls, which included four dots in the power surge, could only score seven runs. Similar was the case for Webster and Imad Wasim who couldn’t just get on with the game. McGurk, on the other hand, came too late to create any difference. 

Worst Power Surge Ever

This was the worst power surge in the history of the BBL as Renegades could only score five runs of the two overs and lost two wickets in the process as well. Firstly, Nabi was served four yorkers by Wes Agar, the fourth one getting his wicket, and then, in the second over, Peter Siddle worked his magic and got rid of Imad Wasim while conceding just three runs. 

Danny Briggs, The Game Changer

The Englishman Briggs was once again at his best, throwing in yorkers at will and not letting the run rate rise. He bowled four overs and gave away just 17 runs for two wickets. At one stage, the Sussex man had figures of 1/8  in just three overs. It was he who stopped the flow of runs as Rashid Khan, the premium spinner, of the Strikers wasn’t at his best today. 

The Weatherald-Gibson

Earlier in the day, Strikers, after winning the toss, had decided to bat first. But the decision really didn’t go their way as they lost Phil Salt early at the score of 14, in the fourth over. After that, skipper Alex Carey and Matt Renshaw built a slow but steady partnership of 54 runs, before spinners in Nabi and Imad pulled out their tricks and from 68/1, the Strikers were soon 72/4. 

But after that, Jake Weatherald and Ryan Gibson built a 53-ball 98-run partnership during which they hit Josh Lalor for 23 runs in one over and got a total of 67 runs from their last five, taking the total to 171, which, at one point, of the time looked impossible. 

What's Next?

Strikers, with this victory, have now moved on to the fourth position and will take on Renegades in a reverse-leg game on 8th January. Renegades, on the other hand, seemed to have lost any confidence that they might have had coming into this game and would look to play for pride from now onwards. 

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