Renegades haven’t given up on BBL finals

The Melbourne Renegades haven’t given up hope of making the Big Bash semi-finals as they prepare to take on the Brisbane Heat at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.

With just two wins from six starts, the Renegades need to win both of their remaining matches handsomely and hope other results go their way if they are to sneak into the finals.

“Ideally we’d like to win both games by a fair margin, but we’ve just got to win first – that’s the main thing,” Renegades keeper Matthew Wade said.

“The last couple of years, teams have snuck into the finals and done well. We’ve got to take a bit out of that and just go out and play some good cricket.”

The Heat sit last on the competition ladder and are out of the finals hunt, but have been boosted by the return of classy batsman Joe Burns, who is back from Test duties.

The Renegades have lost skipper Aaron Finch to the Australian ODI side for the rest of the BBL season with Ben Rohrer to take over the captaincy.

They’ve brought former Test No.3 Alex Doolan into their 13-man squad, with Matthew Short also replacing Tom Cooper.

Alister McDermott replaces fellow quick Mark Steketee in the other change for the Heat.

“We feel like we’ve had a group with players coming in and out a bit, but we’re settled a bit more in our line-up now,” Wade said.

“We feel like that will hold us in good stead.

“Obviously Finchy is one of the best T20 players in the world, but we’ve just got to make do. I feel like whoever comes in is going to do a good job.”

Both sides are coming off losses, the Heat defeated by the Sydney Sixers at home and the Renegades losing a thriller to the Melbourne Stars at the MCG.

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