The Melbourne Renegades opened their Big Bash campaign with a convincing seven-wicket win over the Hurricanes. Here are my five main takeaways.
1. Renegades ease past Hurricanes
The Melbourne Renegades stamped themselves as one of the teams to beat in BBL7 with a comprehensive 7-wicket victory over the Hobart Hurricanes at Blundstone Arena last night.
Despite the loss of skipper Aaron Finch in the first over, the Renegades coasted over the line in chase of the Hurricanes moderate 8/164.
Cameron White showed his class once again with an unbeaten 79 from 59 balls. White was well supported by opener Marcus Harris as the pair shared in a 113-run second innings partnership to take the game away from Hobart.
All of the Hurricanes’ top five batsmen passed 20, but none of them managed to go on with it as the Hurricanes bungled a position of strength at 2/113 in the 14th over, to finish with just 51 runs from the finals seven overs.
Dwayne Bravo was the star for the Renegades, with the veteran West Indian claiming a brilliant five-wicket haul.
2. Bravo shows his worth
You don’t manage 365 T20 games around the world without a showcase of skills, and Dwayne Bravo displayed all his worth last night with a magical five-wicket haul.
The Renegades new signings Kane Richardson and Jake Wildermuth both showed significant signs of rust, but Bravo expertly took the pace off the ball to bring the Renegades right back from a dicey position early in the game.
Bravo was at his scheming best with his variety of slower balls, mixed in with some searing yorkers and an occasional quicker bouncer.
Despite missing most of last year’s BBL through injury, the Renegades know how valuable a bowler like Bravo is for an attack that has struggled throughout the past few years.
3. Hurricanes fall flat in opener
This was a really disappointing performance from the Hurricanes after an encouraging start in front of their home fans.
When you’re 2/114 in the 14th over, a score of 180 would be par, while 200 looked achievable at a certain point.
However, the innings petered out meekly as some of the Hurricanes’ flaws from last year were exposed. McDermott and Bailey failed to capitalise on their fine form, while the likes of Christian and Wade struggled to find the boundary late in the innings.
The Hurricanes’ imports in Mills and Archer looked threatening at times, however for mine, their spinners in Clive Rose and Cameron Boyce are underwhelming and are going to struggle to contain teams this year.
While it’s too early to write off teams after one game, the Hurricanes have a lot of work ahead of them if they are to improve on their last three years.
4. Archer’s impressive debut
That’s the first time I have seen Jofra Archer bowl and I have to say I was mighty impressed. The import came into BBL7 as a relative unknown on these shores, however a quick look through his County stats and a few articles and you realise the hype and potential of this 22-year-old Barbadian.
The commentators made note several times of how economic his action is, and how he generates some serious pace and bounce with such.
Archer was by far the best of the Hurricanes’ bowlers, taking 2/17 from his four overs, and hurrying some experienced batsmen up on plenty of occasions.
Archer took 61 scalps at 25 to be Sussex’s leading wicket taker in the County Championship, as well as averaging 34 with the bat.
Despite being born in Barbados, Archer dreams of playing for England when he qualifies in three years time.
5. Nabi another overseas import to impress
Mohammad Nabi was another overseas debutant to impress last night with an economical spell of off spin bowling for the Renegades.
It’s clear this year that, while some of the imports might not be the biggest names in world cricket, generally they are players with proven T20 records, and many like Nabi are spin bowlers.
Spin bowling was meant to be the death of T20 cricket, however they are now the biggest guns for hire around the world, spinners often proving far more economical and effective than seamers.
Nabi managed 1/25 from 4 overs despite the Hurricanes dominating some of the Renegades seamers.
Nabi has a low arm action and generally bowled flat and fast, however did change his pace nicely with some slower variations proving just as effective.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Adelaide can still play BBL finals after comfortably beating Hobart by five wickets at the Adelaide Oval. The Strikers were set 166 for victory…
The Brisbane Heat's undefeated run in BBL13 remains alive - but it wasn't without drama aplenty. Needing to defend three off the final ball…
Ben McDermott has returned from concussion to steer the Hobart Hurricanes to a confidence-boosting seven-wicket BBL win over the Sydney Thunder. McDermott, who missed…
Matthew Wade has blasted 82 as the Hobart Hurricanes overcame the Melbourne Renegades and some fielding restriction drama to notch a breakthrough Big Bash…
An unbeaten 60 from Steve Smith's replacement Daniel Hughes has guided the Sydney Sixers to victory over the Hobart Hurricanes, who will assess the…
Cricket news, as it happens.
