Marsh sparks Scorchers

Shaun Marsh has inspired the Perth Scorchers to notch their first win of the inaugural KFC T20 Big Bash League season in remarkable fashion against the Melbourne Renegades at Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.

Things looked dire for the Scorchers after the Renegades batted first and hit 3-188, but Perth openers Marsh (99 not out off 52 balls) and Herschelle Gibbs (57 off 36) set the tone emphatically as the visitors coasted to 2-192 with five balls to spare in a match that saw only five wickets fall in total.

Perth's eight-wicket win leaves the Renegades on the bottom of the table with no wins from two outings.

Marsh now looks set to return to the Australian Test team after his blistering innings which included nine fours and five sixes - the last one going over the straight boundary to hand the Scorchers the winning runs in the final over.

He combined superbly with Gibbs, who smacked eight boundaries and two sixes himself, to post 95 runs for the first wicket.

Making matters worse for the Renegades was that Marsh and Gibbs were dropped on 39 and 15 respectively.

The pair hit the ground running with nine runs off the first over and they proceeded to torment the Renegades bowlers who had almost no luck with Abdul Razzaq (0-34 off 2.2 overs), Andrew McDonald (1-21 off two), Shaun Tait (0-40 off four), Shahid Afridi (0-36 off four), Shane Harwood (1-31 off four) and Glenn Maxwell (0-24 off eight) all punished badly.

Gibbs' innings was highlighted by a spectacular fifth over which saw him take 18 runs off Razzaq - including three boundaries and a whopping six over deep mid-wicket.

McDonald dismissed Gibbs when the South African veteran went for one four too many and was caught by Will Sheridan on the cover-point boundary in the 10th over.

Marsh displayed exquisite stroke play all night and perhaps the most audacious instance saw him execute an incredible hook shot off Tait that saw the ball fly over the long stop boundary for six.

Earlier, Andrew McDonald (50 off 33 balls) and Aaron Finch (49 off 40) helped set up the Renegades massive score as they put on 91 for the first wicket off the first 64 balls.

And the opening pair found sound support in the form of Glenn Maxwell (31 off 15), who hit Marcus North's first three balls in the 15th over all for six, Nathan Reardon (22 not out off 15) and Abdul Razzaq (27 not out off 17).

But the Renegades were also aided by a listless Perth bowling performance which saved some face thanks to spinners Brad Hogg (1-22 off four overs), who conceded his only boundary off his final ball, and Michael Beer (2-28 off four).

Hogg and Beer played solitary hands, though, as North (0-22 off one), Mitch Marsh (0-26 off two), Paul Collingwood (0-13 off one), Nathan Rimmington (0-40 off four) and Ben Edmondson (0-36 off four) were plundered.

It was up to 40-year-old Hogg to slow the scoring down and he finally got rewarded in the 11th over when bowled Finch to end an entertaining innings which included five fours and a huge six down long on off Collingwood's first ball.

Hogg should have been on a hat-trick but Rimmington dropped Maxwell the next ball at deep-mid wicket and the Bushrangers spinner made the visitors pay.

Beer claimed the crucial wickets off McDonald and Maxwell but the punishment didn't stop there as Razzaq (one four, two sixes) and Reardon (one, one) capped off a memorable innings.

The Renegades hit nine sixes in all, the biggest of which was struck by Reardon which went high up over the mid-wicket boundary and into the second tier of the Etihad Stadium stands.

But Marsh helped the Scorchers achieve what appeared to be the improbable in what was an amazing night in Melbourne.

Rubbing salt into the wound for the Renegades was Finch taken to hospital for a suspected punctured lung after copping a short Ben Edmondson ball in the ribs.