The Melbourne Renegades is an Australian men's professional Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket team based in Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the Australian domestic Big Bash League (BBL) competition. As of the 2024–25 season, the team is coached by Cameron White and captained by Will Sutherland. Since the establishment of the BBL in BBL |01, the Renegades have won one title in.
The Renegades' foundation captain was Victorian all-rounder Andrew McDonald and coached by then Victorian Bushrangers one-day coach, Simon Helmot. In their first season, the Renegades signed local state players such as Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Brad Hodge and Dirk Nannes, along with Pakistani imports Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq. The Renegades struggled in their first season, only winning two games against the Sydney Thunder and the Sydney Sixers respectively. Aaron Finch scored 259 runs, whilst Shahid Afridi took 10 wickets. The 2012–13 Big Bash League season saw the Renegades release several star players including the previous seasons captain, Andrew McDonald. However, the recruitment of consistent players such as Ben Rohrer and Peter Nevill and cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan, saw the season being the Renegades most successful season to date, finishing on top of the ladder, only losing to the Perth Scorchers in the regular season. Aaron Finch also became the first Renegades player to score a century after scoring 111 from 65 balls against the Melbourne Stars. The Renegades were knocked out by the Brisbane Heat in the semi-finals, losing by 15 runs.
Despite maintaining the majority of their squad from the previous season and also recruiting Australian test bowlers Peter Siddle and James Pattinson, the Renegades struggled in the 2013–14 Big Bash League season, only winning 3 games, and in the process finishing 6th and missing the finals. Similarly to the previous season, the Renegades headed into the 2014–15 Big Bash League season with confidence after signing Matthew Wade and Callum Ferguson in the pre-season, but failed to qualify for the finals yet again, finishing 6th. The poor run from the previous season resulted in the coach Simon Helmot being sacked. The Renegades appointed David Saker as the new coach for the 2015–16 Big Bash League season. The Renegades also signed experienced players Cameron White, Xavier Doherty and Chris Gayle to strengthen their squad. Renegades got a big boost by signing Brad Hogg, Sunil Narine and Thisara Perera for the 2016–17 Big Bash League season, however narrowly missed finals, finishing 5th on the table.
From the Wikipedia article "Melbourne Renegades", available under CC BY-SA 4.0.