Twitter Reactions: Gibson, Weatherald, Siddle, and Agar push Renegades to their seventh loss on the trot

Melbourne Renegades is that prisoner who did not see the outside world for a decade and has been thrown straight into the discotheque upon his release. For the one who did not see a ray of light and did not hear a clink of sound, the razzmatazz and clamor will be nothing but befuddling.

They have shown great fondness of losing and losing big. And though a 60-run defeat, which they underwent against the Adelaide Strikers in the 29th league face-off of the tournament, is a less embarrassing margin of defeat (when compared to their recent results), the gap between them and the other teams seems to be widening. Winning the toss, the Strikers elected to bat first and posted a healthy target of 171 for 5, on the back of some notable knocks of Matt Renshaw, Ryan Gibson, and Jake Weatherald.

Weatherald onslaught dents Finch’s men

Phil Salt continued to disappoint as he holed out to Beau Webster at deep midwicket off Kane Richardson, after scoring merely 8 from 11. A 54-run stand between Renshaw and Alex Carey settled the innings for the Strikers before they lost a couple of quick wickets. Renshaw slammed a couple of fours and a six during his 28-ball 35, whereas Carey scored a run-a-ball 24 before falling to Imad Wasim, who struck twice in the 11th over, and got Jonathan Wells caught by Richardson for 2 to reduce the opponents to 72 for 4.

The slight hope of making their way in the game for the Renegades was spoilt by a 96-run alliance for the fifth wicket, between Gibson and Weatherald, who came in at 6. Gibson (43 from 31) took things easy at his end, however, Weatherald, who teed off his half-century in just 24 balls, seemed in a rush. He slammed 4 sixes and 5 boundaries before picking Webster in the deep on the third-last ball of Strikers’ innings.

Trademark collapse for Renegades

The start for Renegades – who were chasing 172 for the win – could not have been worse as they lost skipper Aaron Finch on the first ball of their chase. Another day, it would have gone for a boundary, however, Finch managed to edge a harmless Harry Conway delivery going down the leg side straight to Carey. Mackenzie Harvey and Sam Harper then got involved in a 67-run stand for the second wicket, infusing promise and hope in the Renegades’ camp.

However, Harper (31 from 30) shuffled too far across to expose his stumps to Danny Briggs, who cleaned him up to bring their stand to an end. Harvey, who slammed a couple of boundaries and as many sixes in his 34 from 29, soon fell to a marvelous catch grabbed by Carey off Wes Agar, and a very Renegades-ish story unfolded thereafter, as they lost 9 for 44.

Agar nailed a yorker to knock over Mohmmad Nabi for just 7, whereas Siddle got Imad Wasim caught by Gibson at deep midwicket to reduce the Renegades to 84 for 5. Beau Webster became Briggs’ second scalp as he gave a simple catch to Gibson before Peter Siddle and Agar, who bagged three wickets each, wiped off the tail. The Renegades fell for 111, failing by 60 runs and recording their 7th straight loss.

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