The ills of the beleaguered Melbourne Renegades are clear for everyone to see. Fresh from two lopsided 60-run and 96-run floggings, their season is basically dead with just a 1.9% chance of making the Finals, according to the Stats Insider Futures Model.

It’s a long fall for the BBL|08 champions, who’ve won just four games from 22 since stunning crosstown rivals Melbourne Stars at the Docklands in February, 2019.

Coach Michael Klinger, who took over from Australia-bound Andrew McDonald for BBL|09, is copping plenty of heat, but there’s plenty going wrong in every facet of the franchise.

It’s easy to forget they won their opening BBL|10 game, hammering the Scorchers by seven wickets, but after seven consecutive defeats, morale and confidence must be at an all-time low, while many have now consigned the season to re-building.

Yet it's Klinger’s job is to pinpoint what’s going wrong and to rectify it. After all, if he doesn’t do so this season, he’ll likely lose his job.

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Bowling Issues

A lot of concern has been directed at Aaron Finch’s batting form, but by some margin, the Renegades have conceded the most runs this season. Their attack has copped a pounding, leaving them repeatedly chasing some monster scores. 

On average of runs conceded per overs bowled, the Renegades are clearly the worst in the competition, while on average they’ve only managed 5.5 wickets per match.

In six of their past seven matches (since winning in Round 1), they’ve conceded more than 160 runs. On the only occasion they didn’t, the match was called off early due to rain, while in that fixture the Sydney Thunder were well on track to post a massive score. 

Sadly, the bowling issues don’t end there.

*Top 6 highest totals in BBL|10

The Renegades have conceded three of the six biggest totals in BBL|10, including two scores above 200. 

On all three occasions, the Gades were bowling first.

There’s also three Gades bowling performances among the top-five for runs conceded in an innings this season, with recruit Josh Lalorfeaturing on that list twice. We don’t like to point fingers, but the BBL journeyman has conceded 44 or more runs in three of his five matches this season, conceding a massive 10.89runs per over.

Meanwhile, none of the Renegades have an economy rate below 7.2 per over either which is pretty damning stuff. 

*Top 5 most runs conceded in an innings in BBL|10

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Top Heavy

While Melbourne's bowlers have been torched, it's not as though their batters have been lending a hand. This season, the Gades are averaging only 120.25 runs per match which is obviously not going to win you too many games. 

Outside of Shaun Marsh, who's 247 runs at average of 35.28 places him fourth in the entire competition, no other Renegade has compiled more than 150 runs with their nest best performer coming in the form Sam Harperwith 140, with youngster Mackenzie Harvey averaging 21.5.

The Renegades have long been criticised for being top heavy, relying on too few, particularly with the bat, and that’s indeed been a glaring issue this season, especially as Finch has struggled, as too has highly-touted South African Rilee Rossouw, with the pair each averaging less than 20 runs.

*Melbourne Renegades batting averages

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Opening Woes

Finally, and without wanting to twist the knife in too much, Gades’ opening partnerships have averaged just 24.75 runs this season. Their best opening stand was 75, while on five occasions the the first wicket has fallen at 20 runs or less. Check out all of Stats Insider's BBL Player DNA Visualisations

Marsh has had three partners at the top – Finch, Sam Harper and Jake Fraser-McGurk – while Harvey stepped in in his absence against Adelaide. Getting that right always goes a long way.

Closing Thoughts

As you can tell, there’s no shortage of issues for the Renegades.

At times like this, leadership and experience always plays a key role. Klinger, Finch, Marsh, Kane Richardson and co simply must lead the way if the Renegades have any chance of salvaging something from the season. 

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