The Melbourne Renegades are in a must-win situation to keep their hopes of making the Big Bash League Finals alive when they take on the out-of-contention Brisbane Heat at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
Brisbane and Melbourne currently lie bottom and second-bottom in the Big Bash League ladder standings, and while the Heat have absolutely no chance of making it to the next round, there is still a sliver of hope for the Renegades.
If that hope is to remain beyond the game on Tuesday, the Melbourne Renegades will need to come away with a victory.
"You've got to draw on the last couple of years, where teams have snuck into finals and then gone on and won it like the Heat did, and also with the Hurricanes knocking the Stars off last year," said an optimistic Matthew Wade to the Melbourne Renegades' official website.
"We've got to take a bit from that and then go in and play good cricket. Even if results don't go our way and we don't make it through, it'd be nice to get a little bit of a lead on into next season and that's what it's about for a lot of the boys."
When it comes to the final standings, the net run rate usually plays its part, and Wade knows, while a couple of wins in their final two games is paramount, big wins will go a long way in increasing their hopes of making it to the Big Bash League Finals.
"You can't look too far ahead," added the Renegades wicketkeeper/batsman on Monday. "Ideally we'd like to win both games by a fair margin but we've got to win, that's the first goal.
"Tomorrow night, that's the first goal to get the ball rolling."
The situation might not have been so dire had the Renegades been able to pull off a victory over the Melbourne Stars in the local derby, with the latter getting home in the final ball of the match in a thrilling finale.
"We were probably 5-10 runs short with the bat, but it's such a fine line," said Wade of that heartbreaking loss on Saturday.
"A couple of catches on the boundary in our last over and then we had a few bad overs with the ball."
There was no such drama, though, in Brisbane's last game as they were outplayed by the Sydney Sixers. The Heat, however, will be boosted by the return of Joe Burns, fresh from his impressive exploits for Australia in the Test series against India.
For the Melbourne Renegades, they will have to make do without star opener Aaron Finch, who is now with the Australia team preparing for the tri-series against India and England. Alex Doolan is likely to come in and play his first match of this season of the Big Bash League.
Where to Watch Live
The match is set for a 7.40 pm local time (2.10 pm IST, 8.40 am GMT) start with live coverage in India on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD1. Viewers in India can also catch all the action via live streaming on Starsports.com.
Australia viewers can watch the match live on Channel 10, with the live streaming option available on Ten Play or Cricket Australia Live. UK viewers can watch the game live on Sky Sports 2, while the option to live stream is on Sky Go or Watch Sky Sports.
New Zealand viewers can catch the match on Sky Sport or Sky Sport Go, while the audience in the Middle East and North Africa can do the same on OSN or OSN Play. Viewers in Africa watch the match live on SuperSport, while the game can also be live streamed on SuperSport Online.
Squads: Melbourne Renegades: Ben Rohrer (capt), Matthew Wade, Fawad Ahmed, Ben Stokes, Nathan Rimmington, Shakib Al Hasan, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Callum Ferguson, Tom Beaton, Alex Doolan, Matt Short, Nick Winter.
Brisbane Heat: James Hopes (capt), Peter Forrest, James Peirson, Joe Burns, Chris Lynn, Dan Christian, Ben Cutting, Andrew Flintoff, Jason Floros, Stephen Parry, Ryan Duffield, Cameron Gannon Alister McDermott.
