Melbourne Renegades 199 for 7 (Fraser-McGurk 95, Walter 2-23) beat Brisbane Heat 196 for 4 (Wood 45, Zampa 2-29)
Out-of-form this summer for South Australia and Renegades, Fraser-McGurk smashed 95 from 46 balls to help Renegades pull off the second-highest successful BBL chase at Marvel Stadium.
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But Fergus O’Neill finished the job as the Renegades chased down Heat’s 196 for 4 with 12 balls to spare. It left Renegades, for a time at least, fourth in the table with a boost to their net run-rate.
Fraser-McGurk, who missed out on selection for Australia’s Champions Trophy squad last week, entered the match having made just 93 runs from his first nine BBL games this season.
But he destroyed a star-studded Heat bowling attack containing internationals Spencer Johnson, Xavier Bartlett, Mitchell Swepson and Michael Neser. It was his best BBL score and his third fifty in 45 matches in the competition.
After winning last year’s title, Heat needed to defeat the Renegades to be any chance of qualifying for the finals.
During a bizarre innings, Renegades captain Will Sutherland and fellow quick O’Neill were both banned from bowling for the rest of the match following intervention from umpire Donovan Koch for running in the danger area
Sutherland was taken out of the attack with a ball to go in his third over after Donovan spoke to him, while O’Neill still had nine deliveries he could have bowled for the innings. It is rare for one player to be removed from bowling mid-over, but two in the same match is virtually unheard of.
Brown’s 2.4 overs went for a whopping 0 for 48, as Heat piled on the highest total at Marvel Stadium this season. But Brown later began Renegades’ chase with 32 off 11 balls.
Sutherland had a nightmare start to the match, twice being hit for three-consecutive sixes – first by Wood in the third over, then by Renshaw in the 12th.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo