The winner of this match will jump to fourth spot and keep their hopes of a BBL|14 finals spot alive
Melbourne Renegades v Brisbane Heat: match preview
Match facts
Who: Melbourne Renegades v Brisbane Heat
What: Match 38, KFC BBL|14
Where: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
When: Saturday, January 18. Bat flip at 4.15pm AEDT, first ball at 5.00pm AEDT
How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
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 Donovan Koch (field), Shawn Craig (third), Chris Grant (fourth), Bob Parry (match referee)
Match squads
Melbourne Renegades: Will Sutherland (c), Josh Brown, Xavier Crone, Harry Dixon, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Tawanda Muyeye (England), Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Tim Seifert (New Zealand), Callum Stow, Adam Zampa
Ins: Kane Richardson, Mackenzie Harvey, Oliver Peake. Outs: Jacob Bethell (international duties), Marcus Harris, Sam Elliott
The Renegades have made three changes for Saturday's clash with the Heat with young gun Jacob Bethell departing to join the England T20 squad in India and Marcus Harris and Sam Elliott making way for Kane Richardson, Mackenzie Harvey and Oliver Peake.
Brisbane Heat: Colin Munro (c) (New Zealand), Tom Alsop (wk) (England), Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Daniel Drew, Spencer Johnson, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Will Prestwidge, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Paul Walter (England), Jack Wood
Ins: Colin Munro, Danel Drew. Outs: Usman Khawaja (Test squad), Marnus Labuschagne (Test squad), Matt Kuhnemann (thumb)
Captain Colin Munro returns to the line-up after missing the Heat's final ball defeat to Hobart Hurricanes at the Gabba. Munro (finger) and local replacement player Daniel Drew come back into the squad following the one-off cameos by Australian players Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne.
Labuschagne hit his highest career BBL score of 77 from 44 balls as the Heat scored 6-201, with the match in the balance until the final ball.
Spinner Matt Kuhnemann will miss the game against the Renegades with a thumb injury that came when he attempted to stop a straight drive off his own bowling. He is being assessed by specialists and further updates will be provided in due course.
Club news
Melbourne Renegades
Brisbane Heat
Get the latest
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|14 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
David Warner
D Warner
|
346 |
|
2
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
312 |
|
3
Mitchell Owen
M Owen
|
270 |
|
4
Marcus Stoinis
M Stoinis
|
264 |
|
5
Alex Ross
A Ross
|
250 |
|
6
Max Bryant
M Bryant
|
247 |
|
7
Ben Duckett
B Duckett
|
243 |
|
8
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
240 |
Most Wickets
BBL|14 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Tom Rogers
T Rogers
|
16 |
|
2
Lloyd Pope
L Pope
|
15 |
|
3
Jason Behrendorff
J Behrendorff
|
14 |
|
4
Lance Morris
L Morris
|
13 |
|
5
Henry Thornton
H Thornton
|
12 |
|
6
Ben Dwarshuis
B Dwarshuis
|
12 |
|
7
Mark Steketee
M Steketee
|
11 |
|
8
Spencer Johnson
S Johnson
|
11 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|14
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Glenn Maxwell
G Maxwell
|
20 |
|
2
Mitchell Owen
M Owen
|
19 |
|
3
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
15 |
|
4
Tim David
T David
|
15 |
|
5
Max Bryant
M Bryant
|
14 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
14 |
|
7
Chris Lynn
C Lynn
|
12 |
|
8
Matt Short
M Short
|
12 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Brisbane Heat have won each of their last two BBL matches against Melbourne Renegades – a third consecutive win in this game would equal the Heat's longest winning run against the Renegades in the history of the competition (won three from January to December in 2021).
- Melbourne Renegades have lost each of their last three BBL matches in Victoria – the last time they recorded a longer losing run in their home state was a five-match span in January 2022.
- Brisbane Heat have recorded a batting false shot rate of 45 per cent in BBL|14, their highest in a single season in the history of the competition, surpassing their 41 per cent rate in BBL|02.
- Tom Rogers (47) is three away from becoming the second player to take 50 wickets for the Melbourne Renegades (Kane Richardson – 104). Rogers has taken 17 wickets at an average of 18.7 across his last 10 innings in the competition, recording at least one wicket in each of those 10 innings.
- Max Bryant (30) is one away from equalling Ben Cutting (31) for the most catches by a non-wicketkeeper for Brisbane Heat in BBL history – he's currently on a run of 10 consecutive successful catches, with his last dropped attempt coming in December 2021 against the Adelaide Strikers at Adelaide Oval.
What's on the line?
A win for either side will put them into fourth spot with just two games to come in the regular season. Should the Heat win, they'll be guaranteed to finish above the Scorchers and Strikers and will be relying on the Hurricanes beating the Stars on Sunday to secure a finals berth.
The Renegades on the other hand, need to win big against the Heat to ensure their net run-rate goes above both the Scorchers and Strikers and then they'll also be relying on the Hurricanes beating the Stars on Sunday to secure a finals berth.
KFC BBL|14 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
HUR
|
9 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.135 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.156 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
THU
|
10 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0.34 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.073 | 0 | 8 |
|
5
HEA
|
9 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.794 | 0 | 7 |
|
6
STR
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.067 | 0 | 6 |
|
7
SCO
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.057 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
REN
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.033 | 0 | 6 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points