The Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria's capital city. They play in the Big Bash League, an Australian Twenty20 cricket league. David Saker coaches the squad, and Nic Maddinson serves as captain.
The Renegades' founding captain was Victorian all-rounder Andrew McDonald, who was taught by Simon Helmot, then the Victorian Bushrangers' one-day coach. The Renegades signed local state stars Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Brad Hodge, and Dirk Nannes in their debut season, as well as Pakistani immigrants Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq. The Renegades underperformed in their debut season, winning only two games against the Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers. Aaron Finch hit 259 runs and Shahid Afridi claimed 10 wickets.
When the league first started in 2011, Cricket Australia opted to put two teams in Melbourne. With both teams' main groups of players coming from the Victoria cricket team, this rivalry was bound to be much anticipated in Melbourne. The Melbourne derby between the new two clubs, the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades, rapidly became extremely popular, with large audiences going to both the MCG and Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. The first leg of the two derbies at the MCG in BBL05 produced a record attendance of 80,883, the greatest turnout for any domestic cricket match in the sport's history.
Melbourne Renegades roster:
Shaun Marsh, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Will Sutherland, Jon Wells, Jack Prestwidge, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Marcus Harris, Andre Russell (replacing Liam Livingstone for the first four matches only), Martin Guptill (the one who replaced Liam Livingstone, 10 group matches and finals).