Melbourne Renegades remain winless in BBL after tight loss to Perth Scorchers
It was the game within the game. With Shaun Marsh taking strike at one end, his brother Mitch Marsh brought himself onto bowl. But who got the last laugh?
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Mitch Marsh has won the battle of the brothers after his explosive batting helped lead the Perth Scorchers to a 11-run win over the Melbourne Renegades at Optus Stadium.
Marsh, playing just his second match since recovering from a self-inflicted broken hand, smashed an unbeaten 56 off 22 balls to lift the Scorchers to 7-196 on Saturday night.
That knock heaped the pressure on his older brother Shaun Marsh. The 36-year-old produced the goods though, scoring 55 off 38 balls, including four sixes.
Beau Webster was also in hot form with 67no off 37.
But it wasn’t enough, with the Renegades finishing at 6-185, leaving them winless after two games.
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“I’m just rapt to get the win on the board,” Mitch Marsh said.
“To be honest I didn’t want Shaun to get runs tonight. I can say that now.
“He’s such a dangerous player, so we knew he was a huge wicket for them.”
The match-up between the Marsh brothers was the big talking point leading into the match, and it didn’t disappoint in front of 23,869 fans.
Shaun stunned the Scorchers at the end of last summer when he joined the Renegades on a three-year deal.
Some boos rang out around Optus Stadium when Shaun made his way out to bat. And the atmosphere was electric in the seventh over when Mitch brought himself on to bowl to his older sibling.
Shaun pushed a single in the only ball he faced against his brother that over, and he took up the attack to the other Scorchers bowlers to edge the Renegades closer to the victory target.
Marsh reached his half-century off 35 balls, but holed out in the deep off the bowling of Fawad Ahmed with the Renegades requiring 41 off 18 balls.
That dismissal sparked the end for the Renegades, with Scorchers import Chris Jordan sending the crowd wild with a spectacular diving catch on the boundary to remove Dan Christian for a duck.
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Earlier, Renegades paceman Kane Richardson produced his best BBL bowling figures on the way to 4-22 from four overs, which included a brilliant reflex catch to remove Ashton Agar.
But the Renegades were powerless to stop Mitch Marsh.
Cam Bancroft (51 off 37 balls) and Ashton Turner (36 off 26) put their Sheffield Shield woes behind them to give the Scorchers a solid platform. Their knocks gave Marsh the perfect platform to unleash his magic, with the 28-year-old cracking five sixes off the last two overs of the innings. Richard Gleeson (1-49) and Harry Gurney (1-55) took the brunt of that pain, with Marsh ending the game with six sixes and a four to his name.