Renegades remain hopeful of reversing WBBL|06 form

Despite three consecutive heavy defeats, Melbourne Renegades captain Amy Satterthwaite remains hopeful her team can dig themselves out of a hole in Rebel WBBL|06.

Five matches into the tournament, the WBBL|05 semi-finalists are yet to record a win.

While two of those matches resulted in wash-outs, one without a ball being bowled, the Renegades were soundly beaten in their three completed matches.

They have batted out their 20 overs on just one occasion, scoring 5-105 against the Perth Scorchers last Saturday, but were bowled out for 119 against the Sydney Sixers one day later and then 81 against the Hobart Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Meanwhile their star-studded bowling attack – albeit without many runs to defend – has struggled to stem the flow of runs, picking up just seven wickets across the tournament to date.

"It's very disappointing, it's been disappointing to be on the wrong end of the stick in all our games so far but more so the way we're losing matches is the most disappointing thing at the moment," Satterthwaite said on Tuesday.

"It's a really tough thing when you're playing this game, it can get you in a deep, dark hole at times.

"So we've got to find a way to somehow get ourselves out of it and unfortunately sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets."

Rubbing salt into the wound of their nine-wicket loss to the Hurricanes at Blacktown was an injury to allrounder Maitlan Brown, another blow to a pace attack already missing New Zealand superstar Lea Tahuhu.

Brown appeared to hurt her hamstring after falling awkwardly while attempting a sweep shot, that also brought about her dismissal, during the Renegades' batting innings and did not the field, with the allrounder to be assessed prior to the weekend's matches.

The Renegades brought in New Zealand pacer Rosemary Mair as a replacement player for her compatriot Tahuhu but are missing the searing pace of the latter, while Australia spinners Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham and Molly Strano have taken just one between them.

"I think if you asked all of them they'd be disappointed with how they're going," Satterthwaite said.

"In the past our spin attack, and probably our whole bowling attack, has been one of our strengths and this year, even though the bats not working I'd say the bowling isn't where we'd like it to be either."

Meanwhile, the Renegades new opening partnership of South African Lizelle Lee and Australia allrounder Sophie Molineux has yet to click, with a highest first-wicket stand of 10 to date.

Their only significant innings has come from leg-spinner Georgia Wareham, who hammered 54 from 27 deliveries against the Sixers, with their next highest contribution the 33 Courtney Webb struck against the Scorchers.

"If we had that magic answer we would have fixed it by now," Satterthwaite said when asked what was required to turn the Renegades' fortunes around.

"We've got a few girls who haven't played much cricket and cricket is such a confidence game, and if you haven't been out in the middle and scoring runs it doesn't help.

"It means we've gone into our shells with the bat and unfortunately in T20 cricket we can't afford to do that.

"We've talked about the right stuff but it's being able to translate that into the middle that's the key thing and we've got to find a way to do that."

With nine matches remaining and every team impacted by the eight washed out matches to date, the Renegades have ample time to turn their season around.

Tahuhu was spotted bowling in the outfield prior to Tuesday's game, in a sign her return from a side strain may be imminent, and Satterthwaite said the upbeat personalities in their 15-player squad would help keep spirits high ahead of their next match against the Thunder on Saturday.

"We've got a good group, we've got to keep trusting them, we've got good morale within the team and people that get people up and about so we've got to keep encouraging that," she said.

"When you're losing games of cricket it can be really tough and we've got to keep finding ways to stay up and about and ensure our spirit stays strong."