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Nine semi-trailers of turf and two star Pakistani cricketers.Their arrival on Friday put the missing pieces in place for the Melbourne Renegades ahead of their Big Bash League opener on Sunday night.
The Renegades take on Adelaide Strikers in Adelaide, then return to Melbourne for their first home game at Etihad Stadium next week.
A new drop-in cricket pitch and four other turf wickets were put into Etihad Stadium on Friday, grown elsewhere and painstakingly transplanted via truck, crane and human hand.
As the wickets were going in, Pakistan all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq landed in Melbourne to complete the Renegades’ line-up.
Swashbuckling Afridi played last season in Adelaide and made a huge impact in the domestic Twenty20 competition.
But his switch to the Renegades has ensured the Melbourne side is among the favourites for the new-look city-based Big Bash League.
Afridi and Razzaq join South Australian paceman Shaun Tait in a Renegades side with a batting line-up headed by Aaron Finch and Brad Hodge – though the latter won’t play against the Strikers because of a hamstring injury.
“When I saw there’s a few guys I played with like Shaun and (Graham) Manou in the team, I played with them in Adelaide and it was a good experience with these guys,” Afridi said at Etihad Stadium on Friday.
“Razzaq, I have played the last 14 or 15 years with him and he is a match-winner.
“We’ve got a good, balanced side and I have played here before and the stadium was the perfect condition for Twenty20 cricket.”
Both Afridi and Razzaq, who has been sidelined from recent matches with a shoulder injury, hope to use the T20 tournament to limber up for Pakistan’s matches against England next month.
Renegades coach Simon Helmot said Hodge did some light running on Friday.
While he will miss at least the opening two matches, Helmot said Hodge remained on track to play most of the Big Bash series.
The Renegades take on a weakened Strikers, who have lost West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard for the tournament after he injured a hamstring.
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