BBL 7, Match 3, Review: White and Bravo ensure Melbourne Renegades start the run with a win

Melbourne Renegades secured an easy victory over Hobart Hurricanes at Bellerive Oval in game 3 of the on-going 7th edition of BBL. The veteran Cameron White stood out with the bat for the Renegades as he played a fluent knock batting at no. 3 and guided his team past the target of 165.

The Renegades did not have a great start as they lost the skipper Aaron Finch on the second ball of the innings, but White and the other opener Marcus Harris put together a century partnership for the second wicket and made sure there were no further hiccups in the chase. While Harris was in decent nick as well, it was White who caught everybody’s eyes as the former Australia international just belted everything from the meat of the blade.

White was powerful, but at the same time was technically sound as well and showed his experience of having played so much of T20 cricket over the years. He seemed to have the measure of the chase as he went about his business in a clinical manner and paced his innings beautifully.

Harris, on the other hand, was a little clumsy on occasions. His innings was not as chanceless as White’s as the 25-year-old got a lifeline behind the stumps off the bowling of Daniel Christian. Trying to run a delivery towards the third man fence, he got it a little too fine and if Matthew Wade had timed his dive to perfection he could’ve grabbed that catch, but he fortunately missed and the partnership marched on.

By the time Harris was dismissed by Jofra Archer in the 14th over, the game had well and truly gone out of the reach of the Hurricanes as the required run rate had come down to less than 7 and the Renegades had plenty of power hitters in the shed. While Tom Cooper perished for a duck, Brad Hodge walked in at no. 5 and smashed 22 off just 14 deliveries to finish the game in a jiffy.

Earlier the Hurricanes were not able to post a big total on the board after being implanted to bat first by the visiting captain Aaron Finch. Five of their top players went past the score of 20, but nobody was able to convert that start into a big one as the wickets tumbled at regular intervals.

The opener D’Arcy Short and Ben McDermott top scored with 34 each, while two of the biggest names in the line-up George Bailey and Daniel Christian scored 25 and 23 respectively. Dwayne Bravo left his mark with the ball for the Renegades as he registered the first 5-fer of the season. The former West Indies skipper was at his subtle best as he bamboozled the Hurricanes’ batsmen with his variations and change of pace.

Brief Scores:

Hobart Hurricanes: 164/8 in 20 overs (D’Arcy Short 34, Ben McDermott 34, Dwayne Bravo 28/5 in 4 overs)

Melbourne Renegades: 165/3 in 18.2 overs (Cameron White 79 not out, Marcus Harris 50, Jofra Archer 17/2)