SYDNEY: Mohammad Rizwan’s tough BBL debut season continued after being retired out in his 300th T20 match, having batted sluggishly in Melbourne Renegades’ costly loss to Sydney Thunder.
The tactical gamble - a decision made by the coaching staff - did not really have the desired effect. Renegades only made a further 16 runs after Rizwan - who had hit 26 off 23 balls - walked off the field at the end of the 18th over.
Averaging 20.14 and striking at exactly 100 in his seven previous innings this season, Rizwan again struggled for fluency on a seaming Engie Stadium surface. He is only the third batter in BBL history to be retired out without an injury, following on the heels of Nic Maddinson in Thunder’s recent match against Hobart Hurricanes in a tactic that is starting to become more prevalent in T20 cricket.
Thunder’s target of 171 was reduced to 140 from 16 overs after a brief rain break when the home side were 80 for 3 in 11 overs. They were in deep trouble at 95 for 6 in the 13th, before Maddinson and Chris Green launched a slew of big blows against ragged death bowling to lift last-placed Thunder over the line with four balls to spare.
The Renegades’ finals hopes are in tatters, having slipped to 3-5 and mired in seventh position. After electing to bowl on a juicy surface with rain having fallen ahead of the match, Thunder fancied their chances of reversing their bowling woes in the powerplay. But Thunder were in familiar trouble after Renegades sped to 39 for 0 after four overs, with Josh Brown doing the bulk of the damage with 27 off 18 balls. Brown, Renegades’ standout batter this season, had started watchfully before whacking two sixes in the third over.
Stand-in skipper Sam Billings deployed Daniel Sams, Thunder’s most reliable bowler this season, after the powerplay but he was unable to contain Brown as the ‘Gades reached 50 in the sixth over. Seamer Wes Agar had curiously not bowled in the powerplay but made up for lost time by knocking over Brown’s middle stump with a superb line-and-length delivery. The stage was set for Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has endured another frustrating BBL season and entered averaging just 14.57 with a strike-rate of 113.
Having watched Brown’s blueprint, Fraser-McGurk had a few sighters before his first boundary was followed by a huge six over deep midwicket. But it was once again all too brief for Fraser-McGurk although he did receive a superb length delivery from Agar that shaped in with the thin edge brilliantly caught by a diving Billings.
The wicket triggered a collapse before Rizwan and Hassan Khan rebuilt the innings with a 55-run partnership. Rizwan’s season-long struggles had been underlined by his inability to hit a six from 141 balls before this game. He finally broke the drought after slogging seamer Ryan Hadley over deep backward square in the 14th over.
