The Melbourne Renegades will welcome back some senior stars as the BBL season rolls on, but young gun Mackenzie Harvey says they will have a fight on their hands to win back their spots.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Renegades were without injured veterans Aaron Finch (knee) and Shaun Marsh (calf), as well as Nic Maddinson, who is on national duty, for Tuesday's tense two-run win over the Adelaide Strikers.
All three are expected back in red this month and Finch is "touch and go" to return on Thursday when the Renegades and Strikers do battle again at Adelaide Oval.
Sam Harper, James Seymour and Harvey stood up in their absence at Marvel Stadium, with the latter hitting a career-high 56 from 46 balls as the top run-scorer in the match.
Seymour, a 29-year-old on his BBL debut, whacked his first ball for six off former Test quick Peter Siddle.
"With such a young (and inexperienced) top order, we're trying to make it hard for those older guys to come back in and kick one of us out," Harvey said.
"If we're all making runs, we're going to be stiff if we miss out."
Rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk was the only man in the Renegades' top five who failed to reach double figures with the bat against Adelaide.
However, he produced an early-season highlight with a one-handed catch on the boundary to remove Strikers opener Jake Weatherald.
The spectacular grab helped turn the match the Renegades' way after Adelaide had enjoyed a strong finish with the ball and productive batting powerplay.
Fraser-McGurk was recently likened to both Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell by Renegades coach David Saker, and expects the confidence from taking such a spectacular catch to flow into his batting.
"I don't think there's anything more nerve-wracking than fielding in a BBL game," the 19-year-old said.
"You're running everywhere, you've got to field it, you've got to be switched on and you've got the crowd around you.
"Especially when you're new to the professional game, it's pretty hard.
"There's plenty of stuff going through your mind, so just knowing that you can take catches and field well is good for the confidence going forward.
"I reckon if I took that catch and then batted, I would've batted a lot better than I did. It definitely can help towards that."
The first-up result will give the Renegades something to build on after two disappointing seasons when they have finished last.
Australian Associated Press
