Melbourne Renegades

Last year: 7th (2 wins, 5 losses)

Overview

5 re-signed, 9 added, 7 lost, 6 not signed

Big gets

Muttiah Muralitharan, Dan Harris

Big losses

Brad Hodge, Glenn Maxwell, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait, Andrew McDonald

Possibly limited availability

None

Thoughts

Like the Thunder, the Renegades will be almost unrecognisable haven’t changed almost their entire squad. The only big name they’ve re-signed is Aaron Finch. They’ll notice the loss of Hodge and Maxwell – on the whole their batting looks a little light on compared to some other teams. The loss of Nannes and Tait won’t hurt them as much as it might have 3 or 4 years ago, the additions on Rimmington and Darren Pattinson should cover them.

Signing Murali is a big move, setting up a potential “battle of the greats” should the Stars eventually re-sign Warne. Neither of last year’s internationals, Razzaq and Afridi, have been mentioned anywhere – with Murali and Darren Pattinson there is no room for either. The Melbourne derbies (plural because we get two this year) are set to be big, Murali v Warne, Darren Pattinson v James Pattinson, Hodge/Maxwell v Renegades.

Grade

B- There new signings aren’t terrible, but they’ve lost a lot of their main contributors from last year. Still the weaker of the two Melbourne sides, perhaps more so this year.