New Renegades coach's link to help free up Fraser-McGurk

As the previous holder of the fastest century in Australian domestic one-day cricket, Luke Ronchi is perhaps better placed than anyone to help unlock the best of Jake Fraser-McGurk's untapped potential.

The new Melbourne Renegades coach was just a year older than Fraser-McGurk is now when he blasted a 56-ball century while playing for Western Australia in a One-Day Cup match against NSW in 2007.

His benchmark for the competition's quickest hundred stood for more than 16 years until Fraser-McGurk broke it with a List A world record 29-ball effort in late 2023 in his first season with South Australia.

Across a career spanning almost two decades and more than 100 international appearances for Australia and New Zealand, Ronchi built a reputation as one of the cleanest strikers of a cricket ball.

Only five players with more than 1,000 runs in men's ODIs have scored them at a quicker strike rate than Ronchi's 114.5, with the former wicketkeeper-batter finishing with a T20 strike rate (154) slightly better than Fraser-McGurk's current mark (149).

Ronchi registered two centuries quicker than his long-standing One-Day Cup record, both in different formats, which speaks to his versatility during a career where he also earned four Test caps for New Zealand.

He produced one of the quickest Sheffield Shield centuries ever in 51 balls against Queensland in 2007 and remains the second fastest to reach three figures in New Zealand's men's T20 competition with a 45-ball effort for Wellington in 2017. Tim Seifert, who played for the Renegades last season, holds the latter record in 40 balls, which he posted a week before Ronchi's knock.

Ronchi, described as "one of the most highly-regarded emerging coaches in world cricket" by Renegades high performance manager Clint McKay following his appointment, therefore brings shared experiences he can draw on when mentoring his young Renegades batters this summer.

Fraser-McGurk backed up that record-breaking ton in 2023 with a career-best BBL season later that summer and a breakout 330-run IPL campaign in 2024 but has struggled to reach the same heights since.

Ronchi said he would seek to free up Fraser-McGurk by stripping back the expectations on the 24-year-old.

"He's obviously a phenomenal striker of a cricket ball isn't he and I think he's someone who's still young and still trying to work out what it is that works for him," the 45-year-old said.

"In your younger years there's a lot of opportunities and hype and all sorts of things, and they can actually have a massive impact on your game mentally more than anything.

"You want him to be nice and relaxed and understand that he – or any player – they don't have to be the man of the match every game.

"A contribution in a game could be a 20. It doesn't need to be hundreds; it doesn't need to be 80s. It can be different things, and it looks different to different people in different situations.

"For someone like him, it's trying to enhance that and make him understand that his skill set is phenomenal, but he doesn't need to be the best of the best all the time and there will be ebbs and flows in T20 cricket.

"Knowing the skills that he does have already, there's going to be conversations and ways just to make sure from a mental space he's at a good point and let him be free and almost take some expectations away around things and then let it unfold from there."

Fraser-McGurk didn't pass 50 last BBL season despite getting into double figures in six of his 10 innings, with openers Seifert and Josh Brown combining for more than a third of the runs scored by the Renegades in BBL|15.

Ronchi said one of his first moves as coach would be strengthening the middle order.

"Last season the two openers were their leading run scorers, and then after that there was a bit of a lull in the amount of runs scored by that middle order," he said.

"There is a position at number five that's going to be quite an important place to fill."

Ronchi also flagged a move up the order for Ollie Peake in KFC BBL|16.

The teenager hit a 25-ball half-century and a memorable last-ball six to beat eventual champions Perth Scorchers last season but missed the second half of the campaign due to the Under-19 World Cup.

"The top order is quite settled in how it sets up, but it's making sure through that middle order there's some quality players that can make a difference," Ronchi said.

"I'm also quite a big fan of out-and-out pace and the impact higher pace can have on a game.

"At times they can get hit but if someone can bowl at 145kph, I think that makes a big difference in any game of cricket."

Ronchi, who has been an assistant coach with the Black Caps for the past seven years and is currently in the UK working with Welsh Fire in the Hundred, will step down from his New Zealand role to join the Renegades in December following their two-Test home series against India.