The Renegades kick off 2026 by hosting the Sixers in their first game at Marvel Stadium for the season
Melbourne Renegades v Sydney Sixers: match preview
Match facts
Who: Melbourne Renegades v Sydney Sixers
What: Match 18, KFC BBL|15
Where: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
When: Thursday, January 1. Bat flip at 3.15pm AEDT, first ball at 4pm AEDT
How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Listen: ABC, SEN Radio. Listen in standard and real-time with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the CA Live app. Find out more here
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Steve Dionysius and Sharad Patel (field), Drew Crozier (third), Bede Sajowitz (fourth), Bob Parry (match referee)
Match squads
Melbourne Renegades: Jason Behrendorff, Josh Brown, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Caleb Jewell, Hassan Khan, Fergus O'Neill, Ollie Peake, Muhammad Rizwan, Gurinder Sandhu, Tim Seifert, Matthew Spoors, Will Sutherland (c), Andrew Tye
Ins: Adam Zampa (injured). Outs: Fergus O'Neill.
Adam Zampa will be forced to the sidelines after suffering a strained neck muscle during last Monday's match against the Hobart Hurricanes. The world-class spinner's absence sees Fergus O'Neill return to the squad. Zampa will be reassessed ahead of the upcoming Melbourne Derby on 4 January at the MCG.
Sydney Sixers: Sean Abbott, Babar Azam, Jafer Chohan, Joel Davies, Bem Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk
Ins: Hayden Kerr, Mitch Perry. Outs: Kane Richardson (omitted), Jake Scott (omitted).
Mitch Perry and Hayden Kerr return in magenta as the Sixers look to improve upon the one win to-date in BBL|15. Experienced seamer Kane Richardson and local replacement player Jake Scott make way for the pair.
Club news
Melbourne Renegades
Sydney Sixers
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Players to watch
Jake Fraser-McGurk (Renegades): Hit a brilliant 95 from 46 balls last time out at Marvel Stadium in the Renegades final game of last season and will be eager for a repeat of that performance after a slow start to BBL|15. The dashing right-hander has scores of 14, 7 and 14 in his three innings so far this season, falling to Hurricanes spinner Rishad Hossain in their past two matches just as he was beginning to get going.
Jack Edwards (Sixers): The allrounder sits one off the top of the wickets tally this season after an excellent start with the ball that saw him claim career-best T20 figures of 5-26 in their Sydney Smash win over the Thunder. Edwards had his quietest game of BBL|15 so far with 11 runs and no wickets in their loss to the Stars on Boxing Day, so look for a strong response with both bat and ball after he started the season in strong form with scores of 46 not out and 32.
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
196 |
|
2
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
194 |
|
3
Nikhil Chaudhary
N Chaudhary
|
180 |
|
4
Josh Philippe
J Philippe
|
180 |
|
5
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
170 |
|
6
Matthew Gilkes
M Gilkes
|
165 |
|
7
Ben McDermott
B McDermott
|
165 |
|
8
Tim Seifert
T Seifert
|
162 |
Most Wickets
BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Haris Rauf
H Rauf
|
9 |
|
2
Tom Curran
T Curran
|
9 |
|
3
Jack Wildermuth
J Wildermuth
|
8 |
|
4
Jack Edwards
J Edwards
|
8 |
|
5
Peter Siddle
P Siddle
|
8 |
|
6
Rishad Hossain
M Hossain
|
8 |
|
7
Marcus Stoinis
M Stoinis
|
7 |
|
8
Daniel Sams
D Sams
|
7 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|15
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
14 |
|
2
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
13 |
|
3
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
12 |
|
4
Nikhil Chaudhary
N Chaudhary
|
10 |
|
5
Ashton Turner
A Turner
|
10 |
|
6
Ben McDermott
B McDermott
|
9 |
|
7
Tim Seifert
T Seifert
|
9 |
|
8
Jack Wildermuth
J Wildermuth
|
9 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Sydney Sixers have won their past nine BBL matches against Melbourne Renegades, last losing to them in February 2019; a 10th consecutive win in this game would be the Sixers' outright longest winning run against a single team in the history of the competition (also won nine v Melbourne Stars from January 2020 to January 2023).
- Melbourne Renegades will be aiming for consecutive wins in the BBL in Melbourne for the first time since January 2023, following their three-wicket victory against Brisbane Heat in their most recent game in the city at the end of last season.
- Sydney Sixers have won only one of their past six BBL matches – a 47-run victory against Sydney Thunder in their most recent game away from home. The Sixers will be aiming for consecutive wins on the road for the first time since December 2024.
- Jason Behrendorff (Melbourne Renegades) went wicketless last time out in the BBL in their loss to the Hurricanes, snapping a run of 16 consecutive innings in the competition where he took at least one wicket (28 wickets in total at an average of 17.7). The last time he went wicketless in consecutive BBL innings was in December 2020.
- Jack Edwards (Sydney Sixers) went wicketless last time out in the BBL on Boxing Day against the Stars, snapping a run of seven consecutive innings in the competition where he took at least one wicket (13 wickets in total at an average of 12.1). He logged figures of 1-25 from three overs the last time he faced the Melbourne Renegades in December last year.
What's on the line?
Sydney Thunder's heavy loss to the Scorchers on Tuesday night means the Renegades no longer sit at the bottom of the standings, but they'll still be eager to claim their second win of the season to keep touch with the top four after dropping their past two games. The Sixers are also seeking their second win of BBL|15 but due to a more favourable net run-rate, a victory over the Renegades on New Year's Day would likely put them into the top half of the standings.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
STA
|
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.779 | 0 | 8 |
|
2
HUR
|
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.432 | 0 | 8 |
|
3
SCO
|
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.034 | 0 | 4 |
|
4
HEA
|
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.479 | 0 | 4 |
|
5
SIX
|
4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.096 | 0 | 2 |
|
6
STR
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.371 | 0 | 2 |
|
7
REN
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1.003 | 0 | 2 |
|
8
THU
|
5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1.463 | 0 | 2 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points