A blistering half-century from Colin Munro and an all-round performance from Mitchell Marsh led the Perth Scorchers to an easy win over the Melbourne Renegades.
With the win, the Scorchers strengthened their position at the top of the points table with an unbeaten run in the ongoing edition of the tournament. They have now won all six games this season and are way ahead of the other sides both in terms of the net run rate and overall points.
Marsh was adjudged Man of Match for picking up the big wickets of Mohammad Nabi and scoring a 33-ball 42 with composure to stay unbeaten till the end of the game.
Chasing a par total of 152 runs, the Scorchers were helped immensely by a brilliant start from the openers Cameron Bancroft and Josh Inglis, who added 49 runs inside six overs. However, both the openers departed in quick succession leaving the task of finishing the game onto the shoulders of Munro and Marsh.
The duo stabilised the innings and kept the scoreboard moving until they opened their shoulders in the 12th over. There was no return for either them or the Renegades bowling attack as Munro took a liking to English left-arm pacer Reece Topley and smashed him for a 16-run over to bring the Scorchers closer to the target.
Then, he smashed Jack Prestwidge for consecutive boundaries to seal the game.
Earlier, the Renegades won the toss and their skipper Nic Maddinson had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. They could not get off to the desired start though as Tymal Mills produced a perfect slower ball to faux Aaron Finch in the second over.
Mackenzie Harvey and Sam Harper then resurrected the innings with a brisk 56-run partnership but their rescue act too could not prolong Renegades command in the game.
They suffered a mini batting collapse in the middle order with the wickets of Maddinson, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Nabi to lose the plot and any chance of posting a match-winning total.
Jason Behrendorff was both economical and wicket-taking form as he scalped two wickets for just 19 runs in his four overs while Mills conceded 36 runs for as many wickets. Ashton Agar too took two wickets but he was also very expensive and hence Marsh’s spell in the middle phase of the game was adjudged a Man of the Match performance.
With the defeat, the Renegades have slipped further to the bottom of the points table having won just one game out of the five this season.