The Renegades' season is hanging by a thread as they host the Scorchers at Marvel Stadium
Melbourne Renegades v Perth Scorchers: match preview
Match facts
Who: Melbourne Renegades v Perth Scorchers
What: Match 36, KFC BBL|15
Where: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
When: Thursday, January 15. Bat flip at 6.30pm AEDT (3.30pm AWST), first ball at 7.15pm AEDT (4.15pm AWST)
How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, 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: Ben Treloar and Sam Nogajski (field), Eloise Sheridan (third), Bede Sajowtiz (fourth), Sarah Elliott (match referee)
Match squads
Melbourne Renegades: Jason Behrendorff, Josh Brown, Harry Dixon, Brendan Doggett, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Caleb Jewell, Hassan Khan, Muhammad Rizwan, Gurinder Sandhu, Tim Seifert, Matthew Spoors, Will Sutherland (c), Adam Zampa
Ins: Brendan Doggett, Matthew Spoors. Outs: Callum Stow (omitted), Andrew Tye (omitted).
Brendan Doggett has returned to the squad after being withdrawn from the clash against the Thunder due to minor hamstring awareness. The recently capped Test bowler joins spinner Matthew Spoors in the inclusions, with Andrew Tye and Callum Stow omitted for Thursday night.
Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Brody Couch, Laurie Evans, Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Luke Holt, Mitch Marsh, David Payne, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner (c)
Ins: - Outs: Josh Inglis (managed).
A big dent to the Scorchers with Josh Inglis to miss due to a pre-arranged Cricket Australia workload management plan. The Scorchers haven't named a replacement for Inglis, instead fielding a 13-player squad to take on the Renegades.
Club news
Melbourne Renegades
Perth Scorchers
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Players to watch
Muhammad Rizwan (Renegades): All eyes will be on the high-profile international signing after he was retired out in the Renegades' last fixture against the Thunder after scoring 23 from 26 balls. Striking at 101.83 from his eight matches this season with a high score of 41, a tide-turning performance at the crease from Rizwan would give a major boost to the Renegades' top-four hopes as his their place in finals hangs in the balance.
Cooper Connolly (Scorchers): Although coming off a golden duck courtesy of a Lloyd Pope pearler in his last match, the young Western Australian has been an integral cog in the Scorchers' push towards top spot. A career-best nine wickets to-date including some big-name scalps — Mitch Owen, Chris Lynn and Muhammad Rizwan among them — along with a handy 177 runs with the bat have only reaffirmed his credentials as a key player in Australia's T20 World Cup squad. Was kept to just three runs after being bowled by former teammate Jason Behrendorff the last time the Scorchers and Renegades met, but was particularly destructive with a rapid 60 runs — with six sixes to boot — from his most recent outing at Marvel Stadium in BBL|14.
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
466 |
|
2
David Warner
D Warner
|
433 |
|
3
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
381 |
|
4
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
360 |
|
5
Aaron Hardie
A Hardie
|
339 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
324 |
|
7
Ben McDermott
B McDermott
|
322 |
|
8
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
311 |
Most Wickets
BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Haris Rauf
H Rauf
|
20 |
|
2
Jack Edwards
J Edwards
|
19 |
|
3
Gurinder Sandhu
G Sandhu
|
18 |
|
4
Tom Curran
T Curran
|
16 |
|
5
Peter Siddle
P Siddle
|
16 |
|
6
Ben Dwarshuis
B Dwarshuis
|
16 |
|
7
Xavier Bartlett
X Bartlett
|
15 |
|
8
Lloyd Pope
L Pope
|
15 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|15
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
38 |
|
2
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
20 |
|
3
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
20 |
|
4
David Warner
D Warner
|
20 |
|
5
Nikhil Chaudhary
N Chaudhary
|
17 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
17 |
|
7
Ashton Turner
A Turner
|
16 |
|
8
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
15 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Melbourne Renegades have won their past three BBL matches against Perth Scorchers, their longest winning run against them in the history of the competition; the Renegades have bowled first on the day in all three of those games.
- Perth Scorchers have batted first on the day in each of their past seven BBL matches; the Scorchers have won four of those seven games.
- Melbourne Renegades have lost their past two BBL matches at Marvel Stadium; the last time the Renegades lost more than two consecutive games at the venue was a six-match span from December 2021to January 2022.
- Mitchell Marsh (Perth Scorchers) has scored 924 runs at an average of 44 across his past 29 BBL batting innings, including 88 against the Strikers last time out; he'll be aiming for consecutive 50-plus scores in the competition for the first time since December 2013.
- Gurinder Sandhu (18 in BBL|15) is two away from recording the third most wickets for the Renegades in a single season in BBL history (Kane Richardson – 19 in BBL|11). Only Richardson again (24 in BBL|08) and Tom Rogers (23 in BBL|12) have recorded more.
What's on the line?
Anything less than a win and the Renegades will officially be out of the finals race. The Scorchers meanwhile are pushing for the top two with a win over the Renegades to set up a playoff second spot against the Stars at home on Saturday in their final game of the regular season.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
SCO
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.363 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.605 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
HUR
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.759 | 0 | 12 |
|
5
HEA
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.431 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.231 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.202 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -1.212 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points