BBL07: Follow live coverage of Melbourne Renegades v Perth Scorchers as Brad Hodge adds spice to blockbuster clash

MITCHELL Johnson delivered the thunderbolts and they sent jolts through a Melbourne Renegades team that still hasn’t beaten Johnson’s Perth Scorchers.

IT was a night for raw pace and reality checks.

Mitchell Johnson delivered the thunderbolts and they sent jolts through a Melbourne Renegades team that crashed from the heights of a 2-0 start. They now say spin is king. Well, that makes Johnson the emperor – and he divided and conquered the Gades’ top order. The Scorchers’ three-wicket win in front of 30,018 – bigger than yesterday’s MCG Test crowd – boosted their perfect record against the Renegades to 7-0. It also cemented Justin Langer’s outfit as the firm favourite for a fourth championship in five summers. Langer mused this week the Renegades were the team to beat. But after beating them up at Etihad Stadium and with six guns to return, Langer showed why is a master coach and not a bookmaker. His 3-0 Scorchers, again, were clinical. They ran sprightly between the wickets, fielded with intent and conceded just one wide and zero no-balls. Johnson, 36, removed lynchpin Aaron Finch and the red-hot Cameron White in his first two overs. When he had 2-2 from 11 deliveries the Renegades were 2-14. It was a start as sticky as a date pudding. Finch is in a funk. In the first six Big Bash seasons Finch has averaged 109 runs from his first three knocks. This summer that tally stands at 12 runs and he might soon start sweating over next month’s ODI selection. Finch must flinch at the sight of Johnson, falling to the intimidating quick four times from his past 46 balls. Tom Cooper and Marcus Harris steadied and then briefly slogged as the Renegades fought back to be 2-77 off 59 balls. Langer lashed Harris as “mediocre with flashes of brilliance” when he walked out of Western Australia. Last night Harris lit up Etihad Stadium, until a flash of umpire madness ended his night on 32 courtesy of a dud lbw decision. Voges loses bat in run out Does the Big Bash need DRS? Harris’s dismissal fell in a collapse of 7-43. Johnson was brought back on when Brad Hodge walked out. Four menacing Johnson deliveries later and Hodge walked back, his 43rd birthday a stinker. They say T20 is about match-ups and Johnson speared the big three – Finch, White and Hodge for a combined six runs. Johnson’s 14 balls to the trio of veterans were mostly unplayable and jagged 3-2. Kevin Pietersen anointed keeper Tim Ludeman the world’s best No.9. But the keeper played one of the BBL’s worst shots, tangled on the crease and bowled by an Andrew Tye slower ball. Ludeman (one run) gave Tye his 50th BBL wicket and Tye now as 12 from just three games. The Gades travelled 51 balls without a boundary until Kane Richardson heaved the last delivery of the innings into the stands. Brad Hodge held up by toilet break It brought the home team to 9-130, a total barely competitive and barely believable after they were 2-77 in the 10th over. There were more dots than a teenager, with Johnson flipping through 17 and the whole side more than 50. The Renegades were required to use just five batsmen in their first two wins. Last night all 11 players hit the crease. Brad Hogg’s first three balls went for eight runs and his remaining 21 balls eight runs. The ex-Scorcher is a fighter, but around him there was a fit of the fumbles in the field early. The Gades dragged it to the penultimate over as Perth’s brittle batting card stumbled home amid a sea of run-out chances. But the final chapter was the same. The Renegades, once again, got Scorched. READ HOW WE COVERED THE GAME IN OUR LIVE BLOG BELOW