Jake Fraser-McGurk belts best ever BBL score after Will Sutherland, Fergus O’Neill banned from bowling in win over Brisbane Heat

Not one, but two bowlers for the Melbourne Renegades were banned from finishing their overs in a controversial umpiring move at Marvel Stadium as a batting dynamo finally made his mark.

It might have taken all tournament but was worth the wait as batting dynamo Jake Fraser McGurk blasted his best ever BBL score to keep the Melbourne Renegades season alive and end Brisbane Heat’s title defence on a controversial night at Marvel Stadium

After the home team had two bowlers, including captain Will Sutherland, removed from the attack for running on the pitch, Fraser-McGurk went within one shot of a maiden Big Bash century after a horror season to help his team reel in the second biggest ever chase at the ground.

Blasting a staggering eight sixes, Fraser McGurk, who was dumped during the week from Australia’s ODI team for the Champions Trophy campaign, made 95 off 45 balls, caught on the boundary going for a ninth maximum, as the Renegades bypassed the Heat’s massive 4-196 in enough time to lift them off the bottom of the BBL table and elevate their run-rate to a positive which could make a miraculous finals berth possible.

“I wouldn’t have minded that coming at the start of the tournament, but love to contribute,” Fraser-McGurk told Fox Cricket.

“Cricket is a game where if you are terrible before it, and you get two shots away you’re away.

JFM’s highest BBL score 👏

That was some knock from Jake Fraser-McGurk! #BBL14pic.twitter.com/4uS4V2ARcf

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 18, 2025

Sunday’s final game of the regular season, between cross-town rivals the Melbourne Stars and ladder-leading Hurricanes could yet determine who takes the final spot in the four-team finals.

But McGurk’s magnificent effort was still a fantastic full-stop after a middling tournament which had yielded just 93 runs before his stunning Saturday surge.

Coming in at number three Fraser-McGurk put on a display in a 46-ball onslaught which included a 24-ball half-century and left seasoned Brisbane bowling attack, including internationals Xavier Bartlett, who went for 56 runs, with no answers.

The match was finished in the 18th over by a six and a four from Fergus O’Neill who, with Sutherland, was removed from the attack in a scenario Renegades coach Cameron White said “can’t have ever happened in a game of cricket”.

“I think getting kicked out the attack is a pretty harsh penalty, but that’s for another time,” he told Fox Cricket during the run-chase,

“I wasn’t really planning for two bowlers to be pulled out of the game.”

Wow. 😳

Fergus O'Neill has now joined his skipper Will Sutherland as the second bowler to be removed from the attack in today's match at Marvel Stadium. #BBL14pic.twitter.com/e7uZAKQXG9

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 18, 2025

Renegades opening batter Josh Brown was forced to bowl the final over of the innings, conceding 17 runs, having gone for 21 off his first over of the season in a surprise move which helped the Heat post a mammoth 4-196.

But Brown, who moved from the Heat to Melbourne, then launched into his former teammates with a quickfire 32 off just 11 balls, including three towering sixes, before Fraser-McGurk went to work..

The Heat’s best batting, without injured captain Colin Munro, came from Jack Wood, who the skipper said was better with his guitar than his bat ahead of an Australian Idol appearance.

He smashed 45 off 27 balls before Matt Renshaw (40 off 22) smashed three consecutive sixes off Sutherland and then Tom Alsop made 42 off just 26 balls in a score which proved to be not enough.

BROWN’S BOWLING BLUNDER

Big-hitting Josh Brown was signed by the Renegades from the Heat, to give them firepower at the top of the batting order, not for any bowling impact.,

But in the final game of the season for the Melbourne outfit, and having talked a big game in the nets, Brown was thrown the ball, with the opposite impact he would have been looking for.

"What is going on?" 😂

Josh Brown just bowled his first ball in the BBL, and Jake Fraser-McGurk had no idea what was happening!@KFCAustralia#BucketMoment#BBL14pic.twitter.com/zObM93mBjP

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 18, 2025

A first ball bouncer went for four wides, and his only over, a seven-ball affair, went for 21 runs, with Wood smashing a four and a six.

He was called on again when Sutherland was removed from the attack for running on the pitch, and again when O’Neill suffered the same fate. and he was whacked for another six.

His Figures were 0-31 after 11 forgettable balls, and then, with two bowlers out of the attack, Brown was brought back to bowl the final over of the Heat innings, conceded ... and his final figures were 0-48 off only 16 balls.

PEAKE INTO THE FUTURE

The renegades handed a BBL debut to Australian Under 19 batter Oliver Peake, who will be joining Australia’s Test team in Sri Lanka having bene invited to get some exposure on sub-continental wickets, signalling he’s a player of the future.
Peake, who is only 18l blasted a century for Australia’s Under 19 team in a Test match against india in Chennai last October, having also reached three figures in a one-day game bwteen the tour countries on the same tour.

He only made 19 in his BBL debut but put on 86 with Fraser-McGurk in a solid pointer to the future of Australian cricket.