Former Macquarie Valley quick Chris Tremain and his Renegades are Big Bash League champions for the first time after storming back from the dead in Sunday’s all-Melbourne decider, taking advantage of what can only be described as a monumental choke from the Stars.
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Chasing a modest 146 at Marvel Stadium the Stars had an easy victory in sight after cruising to 0-93 but, needing just 54 from the final 42 balls with all 10 wickets in hand, the Glenn Maxwell-led side imploded.
The Stars incredibly lost 7-19 in the next five overs to slump to 7-112, ultimately falling 13 short as Tremain and his teammates sealed their franchise’s maiden triumph in sensational circumstances.
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“It’s very special, it’s exciting ... it was an unbelievable effort by our boys to pull that off,” Renegades skipper Aaron Finch said, after admitting he’d all but given up hope midway through the Stars’ chase.
Yeoval product Tremain, who’d had a somewhat patchy tournament, was excellent with the ball, taking the massive scalps of Peter Handscomb (0) and Maxwell (1) to help spark the stunning collapse and finish with figures of 2-21 from his four overs.
But the Renegades’ real star was once again Dan Christian.
Christian led his side to the decider with a clutch, unbeaten, 14-ball 31 in semi-final against the Sydney Sixers on Friday night and once again produced heroics in Sunday’s decider.
In a player-of-the-game performance, first Christian (38 from 30 balls) combined with Tom Cooper (43 from 35) in an 80-run partnership that lifted the Renegades from 5-65 to a competitive 5-145.
Then, as the Stars fell in a heap, he claimed the scalps of Seb Gotch (2) and danger man Dwayne Bravo (3), finishing with 2-33.
Incredibly the title is his seventh Twenty20 triumph, having tasted BBL success with the Brisbane Heat in the tournament’s second edition and also winning in the South African, English and Caribbean leagues.
"I think I've just been really lucky with the teams that I've played with," Christian said after the incredible win.
"These (Renegades) guys were wonderful guys to play with. But it was a bit of a weird one with this team ... we scrapped really well all year.
"We didn't dominate anyone in any game, we just kept pulling rabbits out of a hat somewhere or somehow whether it be with the bat or the ball.”
Even with an incredible T20 career under his belt, Christian admitted he couldn’t remember ever being part of such a stunning comeback.
"It was a pretty special one ... I've never been part of a team that's come back from a situation like that," he said.
"(They were) 0-93 chasing 146 ... it was just extraordinary. We were 5-65 then fought back well.
"Then the Stars came out and played really well then we fought back well again.
"It's a testament to the guys and the way they played all season, I think."
Maxwell, shattered after the loss, heaped praise on the Renegades’ effort with the ball and suggested his side needed to score quicker early in the chase, which would’ve alleviated the perceived pressure that led to their collapse.
“We needed to kill the game a little bit earlier, go harder at the start while the ball was hard and just get ahead of the run rate,” Maxwell lamented.
“You can kill games in the power play when you are chasing scores like that, and 0-36 is great, but it was that sort of game, we probably needed to go harder. That’s all in hindsight.
“We didn’t get off to a flyer, they executed and were able to build up enough pressure to make it hard for us.
“They bowled really well and executed under pressure. They were able to build up enough pressure to make it hard for us.”
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
