Melbourne Renegades 143 for 4 (Finch 63*) beat Adelaide Strikers 142 for 7 (Carey 65, Ahmed 3-17) by six wickets
Aaron Finch steered Melbourne Renegades to a six-wicket win over Adelaide, booking the club’s first BBL finals appearance in four years.
Finch survived some early scares – including a ball hitting his stumps but failing to dislodge the bails – to hit an unbeaten 63 to guide Renegades home with 10 balls to spare at Marvel Stadium.
Australia’s T20 captain notched up his fourth 50 of the tournament and 26th in the BBL, and was joined at the crease by Jon Wells to finish off the match.
Finch stayed calm as wickets fell around him, including those of former international stars Martin Guptill and Shaun Marsh, as he built his innings before powering the Renegades in the final 10 overs after they had been 16 for 3 in the third over.
Even on a tricky pitch, Strikers’ 142 for 7 never looked seriously defendable once Finch and Matt Critchley (35) joined forces as Strikers’ faint finals hopes ended with their ninth defeat of the tournament. After winning their first title in 2019, Renegades endured three disastrous seasons before embarking on a vastly improved campaign.
The Strikers and he are in the home finals after two straight losses, and barring a significant swing in net run rate, he could finish third or fourth depending on Wednesday’s results.
The Sydney Thunder beat the Melbourne Stars at the MCG and Brisbane netted while his heat also lost.If he closes his rate gap, he could leapfrog the Renegades and move into third place. .
Former Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey had a good record of 65 out of 47 pitches in tricky conditions, but after Finch chose to throw first, all other Strikers batsmen were out of the game. I found it difficult.
Test He became one of cricket’s most explosive mid-order Travis He even heads, from 32 balls he struggled to 19 balls. Adelaide stumbled to 15-1 after a power play. Veteran spinner Fawad failed to build momentum when his Ahmed caused problems and reached figures of 3-17.
The Strikers’ innings slumped to new lows when Wells knocked out Cameron Boyce with a long throw from half to the limit.