Finch sidelined for Renegades opener with knee issue

Australia's T20 World Cup winning skipper Aaron Finch has been ruled out of the Melbourne Renegades season opener tonight after failing to recover from a knee injury in time. 

Finch was considered a game-time decision for the clash against the Adelaide Strikers after being plagued by the knee issue throughout the tournament in the UAE. 

The Renegades confirmed Finch would miss their opening game just before 5pm with their final team to be announced at the bat flip at 6.30pm.

Finch said, realistically, with the Renegades next game being such a short turnaround on Thursday night in Adelaide, he was more likely to return for their third game of the season against the Brisbane Heat on the Gold Coast on Monday.

"It's a day-by-day thing," he said during the broadcast on Tuesday night.

"It's something that keeps niggling, I had surgery not long before the (T20) World Cup and really pushed it to be available for that and I'm probably paying the toll for it a little bit now."

Despite not missing a game during Australia's first-ever T20 World Cup triumph, the 35-year-old later revealed his knee was that uncomfortable he stationed himself at slip for extended periods during the tournament. 

The BBL's second leading run scorer of all time is still recovering from knee surgery before the World Cup and left it up until the last minute to decide whether he would play or not on Tuesday.

Even yesterday acting Renegades captain Kane Richardson wasn't sure if Finch would suit up.

"He'll be in the squad and then we've got a run tonight," Richardson said on Monday. 

"Hopefully he's playing, I'd love to have him out in the field to help me out. 

"If he doesn't, we've got plenty of other young blokes who are ready to go."

Renegades coach David Saker said last week Finch was still getting his knee strengthened.

"He just feels uncomfortable with it at the moment," Saker said. 

"He went straight from surgery into a World Cup, and he felt that he was pretty useless in the field." 

He said the team left it until the last minute to make the call on whether their former captain would take the field as he was "such an important player for (them)".

Finch led the Renegades to their only BBL title in 2018-19 but after finishing bottom of the table in the past two seasons they will be looking for a strong start against the Strikers.

The Renegades are already without veteran opener Shaun Marsh who remains in Perth with his family after suffering a calf strain while batting in the Sheffield Shield last month.

New captain Nic Maddinson will also miss the first two games against the Strikers while on Australia A duties and Marcus Harris is set to miss most of the season after earning a recall to the Test team.

Melbourne Renegades squad for Tuesday's game: Cameron Boyce, Zak Evans, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Zahir Khan (Afghanistan), Josh Lalor, Jono Merlo, James Seymour, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson (c), Will Sutherland, Reece Topley (England)

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