Nic Maddinson, Akeal Hosein help Renegades open their account in style

Melbourne Renegades (Source: Twitter)

Banking on the power of Nic Maddinson and spin web of Akeal Hosein, Melbourne Renegades got the better of Brisbane Heat by a margin of 22 runs in a high-class encounter played in the third match of the Big Bash League played at Cazalys Stadium, Cairns.

Maddinson too good for bowlers

Asked to bat first on a cloudy evening, Renegades had a blistering start to their innings thumping 65 runs in the first six overs courtesy Sam Harper and Nic Maddinson. The former fell on the first ball after the powerplay, bringing the Heat back into the match.

With the fall of one wicket, three other follow the suit putting the Renegades on the top. With score being 78/4 after 9.5 overs, there were in deep waters.

In walked big hitting Caribbean star, Andre Russell who went berserk in 28 balls smashing 35 runs with three biggies to his name stitching a 78-run partnership with Maddinson.

By the end of 20 overs, they managed a decent total of 166 runs for the loss of 7 wickets with three wickets to Matthew Kuhnemann and James Bazley accounting for two.

Economical bowling keep the Heat under check

In pursuit of 167, the Brisbane-based side faced two early blows with 2 down for 11 after 2.3 overs. Kiwi Colin Munro was tried steady the ship with his 30-ball 35 forming a 54-runs partnership with Jimmy Peirson (43).

End of 12th over saw them at 88/4, however, in the next three overs they lost the momentum and were reeling at 103/4 which put a further dent to their hopes.

In the next five overs, they only lost a single wicket but keep up with runrate scoring only 41 , hence losing by 22 runs.

Akeal Hosein was the chief destroyer with three wickets giving away just 15 runs which proved to be  a huge margin in the end.