BBL|13 preview: Experienced Renegades 'ready to compete'

There's been a huge transformation in the Melbourne Renegades list over the past two years and now the club believes they're in the hunt to push for the KFC BBL's ultimate prize.

Recruits don't get any bigger than the nation's two top spinners in Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon, who along with veteran seamer Peter Siddle have further boosted the level of experience on the club's list.

Add in South African star Quinton de Kock (who will miss their season opener against the Sixers but will be available for the next seven home-and-away matches) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who the Renegades secured at the draft, and head coach David Saker has high hopes for BBL|13.

"We've kept our young players in the group and we've got some more experience in," he told cricket.com.au ahead of the new season.

"We took some good steps last year, but I think we're ready now – we've got a list good enough to really compete hard, and we made finals last year so we're expecting to do that (again).

"Once finals come around, it starts a new competition because most teams lose their overseas players so how big and how good a squad you've got is going to be pretty important."

Unfortunately for the Renegades, Lyon has also been withdrawn from their season opener against the Sixers on Friday due to his Australia commitments with the first Test against Pakistan beginning next Thursday, while veteran batter Shaun Marsh is expected to miss the match following an injury set back.

"We signed Nathan with the understanding his availability would be limited in the short term due to his international commitments," said James Rosengarten, Melbourne Renegades general manager.

"We want to give ourselves the best opportunity to contend for a BBL championship and Nathan is part of those plans.

"His impact around the squad as already been profound and we're excited for what Nathan can bring to the Renegades in BBL|13 and beyond."

BBL|12 result: Fourth, lost the Knockout final

 

BBL|13 Draft picks: Quinton de Kock (4th – Platinum), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (12th – Gold) 

 

Squad: Harry Dixon, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson (c), Shaun Marsh, Fergus O'Neill, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Jon Wells, Adam Zampa. Overseas players: Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Joe Clarke (England)

 

Ins: Harry Dixon, Nathan Lyon (Sixers), Peter Siddle (Strikers), Adam Zampa (Stars), Quinton de Kock, Joe Clarke (Stars), Fergus O'Neill

 

Outs: Zak Evans, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Jack Prestwidge, Corey Rocchiccioli, David Moody, Fawad Ahmed

Possible best XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, Nic Maddinson, Jon Wells, Will Sutherland, Tom Rogers, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Possible best XI for first game: Joe Clarke (wk), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Nic Maddinson, Aaron Finch, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Wells, Will Sutherland, Tom Rogers, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Inside word with Renegades coach David Saker

Building on last season

"Last year, all of us as a group, not just the players but the management and coaching group, we just started to talk the way teams should talk when we're in the running for finals. We're really confident that we're going in the right direction … we're confident we've got a good list together and we're going to give it every shot."

Availability

"We probably won't have 'Sos' (Shaun Marsh) for the first couple of games … he's had a couple of injury setbacks (which) is quite frustrating. He's at an age where it's been recurring for him but he's just a good person to have around our group and if we get him fit and if he can play six or seven round games and finals we'll be happy.

"We'll try to rotate 'Finchy' (Aaron Finch) and Marsh a little bit because Shaun's record of playing after travel isn't great and we'll try to give Finchy a rest if we can. We never like doing that but it's for the benefit of us more for the back end of the season – it's going to be important that Shaun and Aaron are playing good cricket at the back end.

Spin to win again

"Those three – (Adam Zampa, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Nathan Lyon) – can really shut the game down through the middle and that's quite important for us. Whether all three play it at once, we'd have to assess the wickets we play on … but Mujeeb and Zampa bowl well in any conditions.

"We'll still back our pace bowlers to do a good job as well, so we've got a really good mix. If you put Nic Maddinson in as a spin bowling option who does a good job when he has the ball, we've got a lot of bases covered with our spin and we're really happy with our pace attack with 'Sidds' (Peter Siddle) coming in backing up Tom Rogers and Kane Richardson."

Where will Will Sutherland bat?

"We could potentially move him up if the game is situated like that; if we get to 17 or 18 overs and we're only two (wickets) down I think he would be a logical one to go in next. But we still have guys like 'Finchy' and 'Wellsy' (Jon Wells) in the middle order and at the back end, they do just as good a job – Wellsy mightn't hit the ball out of the park, but he'll go at a good rate.

Players to watch

"Will Sutherland, I know he made some big moves forward last year, but I think you might see some even bigger moves this year. Will made some huge steps forward not just with the bat last year but with the ball and his leadership qualities has got him the vice-captaincy. We're really excited we've got him in the group, and I think in three- or four-years' time, you'd just assume he'll be in the running for higher honours.

"And I would be keeping an eye on Mackenzie Harvey and Jake Fraser-McGurk … the way Jake's been playing Shield cricket, I think they're (both) in a good spot to make a big move this year and they're going to play a huge role for us.

"Quinton de Kock's World Cup was pretty special and I don't think people in Australia have seen a lot of him, but he is, in my opinion, as good as batter as there is in the world. So we're extremely excited to get someone like that in our group and his leadership again is very beneficial for us."

Team to beat

"Same two teams and we've got them the first two games. The Sydney Sixers with some really good, experienced players in their team, they've got most bases covered and are just a really hard team to beat in any conditions.

"Obviously, Perth Scorchers are just another level and they showed last year how versatile and how good they are because some of their youngsters got them over the line in a final. So we've got those two teams first up, so we'll know where we're at – we think we're the third best team and on our day we can beat those two sides."

BBL|13 team previews: Strikers | Heat | Hurricanes | Scorchers| Renegades | Stars | Sixers | Thunder

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