Melbourne Renegades coach Michael Klinger has lamented a poor tactical decision for his side’s record-breaking defeat against the Sydney Sixers on Sunday evening.
Chasing 206 for victory at Blundstone Arena, the Renegades suffered a cataclysmic collapse to be rolled for 60, the second-lowest team total in BBL history.
The Melbourne-based club also suffered the largest defeat in 10 years of BBL cricket, their 145-run loss comfortably toppling the previous record of 112.
The ONLY place to watch every match of the 2020/21 KFC BBL Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play is on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >
Speaking to reporters after the match, Klinger revealed the team had opted to chase the Bash Boost point after all-rounder Beau Webster was dismissed in the fifth over.
The newly-introduced innovation ensured the Renegades would gain one point from the match if they had more runs than the Sixers at the 10-over mark.
Unfortunately, instead of accelerating towards the more achievable 76-run target, the Renegades continued to lose quick wickets in a “horrible” batting performance.
“After that start, our tactics were obviously, as you would have seen, to try and get that bonus point,” Klinger told reporters after the match. “It just sort of kept getting worse after that, a bit of a trainwreck I suppose.
“The tactics were fine, and boys had a crack … it just got worse because of our execution when we tried to go for that point.
“It just didn’t work out.”
Sixers opening batsman Josh Phillipe was awarded Player of the Match for his classy 95 off 57 balls in the first innings.
The young gun sympathised with the Renegades’ unorthodox strategy, acknowledging the value in chasing the Bash Boost target.
“It does create an opportunity to still get a point,” Philippe told reporters after the match.
“It’s an interesting initiative … when you are a few wickets down, it probably becomes more important to try and go for it.
“I don’t think there’s any problem with what they did. I just think they didn’t execute, and we bowled really well.”
Klinger pointed out his squad had gone through a “big turnaround”, less than 24 hours earlier defeating the Perth Scorchers in their season opener at the same venue.
“We had two varied games,” Klinger told Channel 7. “A fantastic performance last night against a strong Scorchers team, and today a horrible one.
“We’ve got a five-day break now, so the boys have time to regroup and come back stronger.
“We won’t review straight away … but the message will definitely be around, ‘You had a crack, but the execution wasn’t great’.”
READ MORE: ‘Hurt’ star takes aim at former BBL club
Klinger also accepted his bowlers did not implement their skills well enough against a talented Sixers batting line-up.
“We could have executed with the ball a little bit better,” Klinger said in the post-match conference. “We were bowling to some set batsmen tonight, compared to last night when we were bowling to guys at the tailend.
“In that case, you’ve got to be spot on when you execute with the ball, and we probably weren’t quite there.”
The Renegades will next face the Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday morning, with the first ball scheduled for 11:10am AEDT.