After Hobart Hurricanes’ stunning win against Perth Scorchers, the other two semi-finalists have presented a nail-biting end to an incredible clash. In the second semi-final, Melbourne Renegades fell just 1 run short of qualifying for the final of the Big Bash League 2018.

Winning the toss, Adelaide Strikers captain chose to bat first. After a cameo of 19 off 8 deliveries from their opener Johnathan Dean, Jake Weatherald and Travis Head racked up a 104-run partnership.

Following Weatherald’s departure, a middle-order collapse saw Colin Ingram, Jonathan Wells, and Jake Lehmann return to the pavilion scoring less than 5 runs. However, their skipper – Travis Head took the responsibilities and batted accordingly to keep the score ticking.

Jake Weatherald posted 57 runs before Kieron Pollard had him dismissed. Travis Head remained unbeaten scoring 85 runs. These two innings powered the Adelaide-based franchise to register a total of 178 runs for 5 wickets.

Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie, Dwayne Bravo, and Jack Wildermuth scalped one wicket apiece for the Renegades.

Coming on to chase the total, Cameron White could not manage to make more than 2 runs before getting out by Michael Neser. After the first blow, Marcus Harris and Tim Ludeman batted sensibly to give their team a crucial partnership of 71 runs.

Harris made 45 runs before Travis Head bagged his wicket. Ludeman was dismissed by Rashid Khan and made 28 runs before leaving the crease.

The next two batsmen – Tom Cooper and Dwayne Bravo stitched a 62-run stand to take their team closer to the target. Bravo was out scoring 26 runs as Ben Laughlin picked up his wicket.

However, Cooper remained unbeaten 36 runs and Kieron Pollard accompanied him with innings of 29 runs at the other end as Melbourne Renegades got defeated by 1 run.

13 runs were required in the last over but Ben Laughlin allowed only 11 runs. He had also conceded only 5 runs in the 16^th over and dismissed Bravo which, in a way, troubled Renegades’ momentum.