BBL08: Melbourne Renegades rout Scorchers to end Perth's semi-final hopes

Liam Blackburn

BBL08: Melbourne Renegades rout Scorchers to end Perth's semi-final hopes image

Perth Scorchers will miss out on the Big Bash League semi-finals for the first time in their history after being dismissed for just 79 in Melbourne Renegades' dominant 78-run victory.

A rotten campaign for the three-time winners of the competition continued as the Scorchers fell way short of their victory target of 158 having slumped to 12-4 in their powerplay.

Only three Perth batsmen reached double figures as Dan Christian (4-20), Chris Tremain (3-9) and Cameron Boyce (2-16) all took multiple wickets, while Kane Richardson (1-6) produced economical figures too.

Melbourne's total of 157-5 had looked below par, with teenager Mackenzie Harvey (38) and Sam Harper (37) the only two batsmen to exceed 19, yet it proved more than enough as the Gades' bowlers tore through a sorry Scorchers batting line-up.

BBL08: Fixtures, tickets, ladder, and how to watchStats: Top run scorers, wicket-takers and highest strike rate

PERTH'S BIG GUNS FAIL TO FIRE

A top three of Cameron Bancroft, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh would have given Perth confidence in their chase, yet the trio of Australia internationals combined for a paltry six.

Bancroft played on to Tremain, who removed Shaun Marsh in similar circumstances when an inside edge from the opener went through his legs and rolled back into the stumps.

After Ashton Turner departed caught-and-bowled, Mitchell Marsh then picked out Richardson at deep midwicket to give Tremain his third wicket at the end of the sixth over.

That left Perth 12-4 and gave them the lowest-scoring powerplay in BBL history.

WOEFUL SEASON FINALLY OVER FOR SCORCHERS

Perth were BBL champions in 2016-17, and last season they finished top of the standings before bowing out in the semi-finals, yet this was their eighth defeat from their 11 contests this term.

A big reason why may be the departure of current Australia head coach Justin Langer, who was replaced by Adam Voges in May.

Voges made the bold call to drop the out-of-sorts Michael Klinger last week, but even without the Big Bash League's all-time leading scorer, Perth still endured another miserable night.

TREMAIN MAKES IMPRESSIVE IMPACT

No one has taken more wickets in the 2018-19 BBL than Richardson, but he played second fiddle to Tremain early in Perth's reply.

Tremain had failed to take a wicket in his only other BBL appearance of the campaign, yet he accounted for Bancroft with his opening delivery here.

Shaun Marsh followed with Tremain's first ball of his second over and by the time he had removed Mitchell Marsh, his figures from 18 balls were a staggering 3-4.

Liam Blackburn