After years of disappointing results, the Melbourne Renegades finally broke their duck (pardon the pun) in BBL09 as they beat cross-town rivals the Stars to claim their first title. They’ve now added Shaun Marsh in BBL09 and should be a tough team to beat throughout the Summer. We take a look at the Renegades in our full 2019-20 Big Bash League team preview below!
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Melbourne Renegades Team Preview
Current Squad (20): Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Shaun Marsh, Joe Mennie, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Kane Richardson, Will Sutherland, Beau Webster, Jack Wildermuth, Cameron Boyce, Dan Christian, Tom Cooper, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Harry Gurney (England), Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Richard Gleeson
Last Season: 2nd (Premiers)
In: Shaun Marsh (Scorchers)
Out: Cameron White (Strikers), Chris Tremain (Thunder), Tim Ludeman, Andrew Fekete, Kelvin Smith, Mitchell Perry
Batting
Shaun Marsh joins Aaron Finch atop the Renegades top order and the pair will form a deadly combination in BBL09. Marsh averages 49.48 in 37 BBL games and Finch is the 3rd highest run-scorer in BBL history (1889 runs). A great story out of BBL08 was Sam Harper after 341 runs and he looks ready to make a big mark on this tournament. Late order hitting is also strong with the experienced all-rounders of Christian/Nabi. Marcus Harris probably won’t make the test squad this summer but he’ll need to find some form in the BBL. The same can be said for Tom Cooper after a fairly quiet BBL08 for his standards.
Bowling
The ‘Gades bowling unit looks settled again with a good mix of opening bowlers, death options and spinners. Kane Richardson comes off 24 wickets in BBL08 (top wicket-taker) and is always a dangerous prospect in the death overs. Boyce had a really solid campaign last year with 16 wickets and uses the slow Marvel pitch to his advantage. Christian is another handy bowling option in the death overs and picked up 15 wickets last season. Then you have the wicket-taking ability of Gurney with the new ball. The wildcard of this unit is really Wildermuth as he only took 6 wickets in 10 games last season. However, he has great potential and that’s a scary prospect if he gets going.
Best XI
1. Finch
2. Marsh
3. Harris
4. Harper
5. Cooper
6. Christian
7. Nabi
8. Wildermuth
9. Boyce
10. Richardson
11. Gurney
Prediction: 4th
The Renegades become the side everyone wants to beat in BBL09 and it’ll be interesting to see how they handle the pressure. On paper, their squad looks very strong and the addition of Shaun Marsh only boosts their batting. The question marks will be on their middle-order batting if they lose early wickets but their bowling depth is right up there, especially when they play at Marvel. So we believe they’ll reach the finals and have a crack at defending their title.
Shaun Marsh top REN batsman
$2.50
Harry Gurney top REN bowler
$3.00
