Twitter Reactions: Renegades batsmen commit hara-kiri in just 64 balls on a batting wicket

With a magnificent start, responsible middle-order batting, impressive groundwork, and tantalizing effort with the ball, the Sydney Sixers scripted an impeccable game against the hapless Melbourne Renegades in the 6th encounter of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020-21. The lone thing that went Finch and his men’s way was the toss, where, too, the skipper did not make the correct call.

Electing to field first, the Renegades’ bowlers found themselves up against the scintillating belligerence of Josh Phillipe. Though Hatzoglou managed to get an early breakthrough as he trapped Jack Edwards in the second over, the Renegades were never allowed to bank on the chance. Taking the attack to the opposition, Phillippe opened his box of shots in style as he drove, pulled, punched, and flicked the opponents with utter disdain.

Kane Richardson struck in the 5th over when he got rid of James Vince, who edged one to the wicketkeeper, although there was still no stopping to Phillippe, who continued toying around with the bowlers. Phillippe – who smothered 3 sixes and 9 fours in his 57-ball knock, added 78 with skipper Daniel Hughes for the third wicket, 70 with Jordan Silk for the fourth, and an unbeaten 17 with Dan Christian for the 5th wicket.

While he was all set for a well-deserved century, the right-hander fell short by merely 5 runs in the ultimate over of the innings as he holed one of Lalor to Finch. However, on the back of his knock and a quick-fire, dominating 19-ball 45 from Silk, led the team to post a daunting target of 206 for the Renegades to chase.

Renegades rolled over

It would have taken some exceptional woodwork from the Finch and Co. for hunting this one down. What followed during the chase was exceptional, although in the wrong sense as the team tumbled for 60 runs, hitting an exceptional low. The highest any batsman could muster from the Renegades was 13, as three batsmen – Shaun Marsh, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Kane Richardson – were tied on it. Ben Dwarshuis and Steve O’Keefe shone with the ball as the duo bagged 7 wickets amongst them, whereas Carlos Brathwaite and Gurinder Sandhu got two and one respectively.

As many as four batsmen from the Renegades’ camp could not even open their accounts, whereas those who did, could not make it count at all. It was a rather shameful outing for the team as they fell short by a mind-boggling margin of 145 runs, and they would want to shrug it off as they move ahead and meet Hobart Hurricanes in their next fixture.

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