Melbourne Renegades have appointed Luke Ronchi, an international cricketer formerly of Australia and New Zealand, to take charge as the head coach for the Big Bash League (BBL) season. This follows the transfer of Cameron White, who has been named the head coach for the Melbourne Stars, following a shake-up in the coaching staff of both the Melbourne teams.
Luke Ronchi, aged 45, is set to vacate his post from being the batting coach for New Zealand Men’s team. He has held that post for the last six years and is going to stay with the Black Caps during the tour to India before starting his preparation for the BBL season.
This is Ronchi’s second major coaching gig in the franchise after having coached Islamabad United in the PSL. With his extensive experience with the New Zealand national side in winning the ICC World Test Championship and reaching the finals of the T20 World Cup in 2021, he was always going to be a frontrunner for this job.
Working alongside Ronchi as the club’s high-performance manager will be Clint McKay, who will take on the dual role as the team’s bowling coach. It is anticipated that there will be two more assistant coaches appointed at this stage, while the club continues to beef up its playing squad once the player contracting period resumes. According to reports, the Renegades have even looked into bringing in Ben Stokes if he becomes available for the BBL next season.
The new signings come in an offseason that is proving difficult for both BBL teams in Melbourne. After recent structural changes at Cricket Victoria, which saw key administrators move from the Renegades to the Stars, Cameron White moved to the Stars as well, while Peter Moores stayed with the franchise as its Director of Coaching.
This restructuring comes after the failed efforts to bring in private investors to invest in the Big Bash League. Plans which included selling the Renegades and the renaming of the Stars failed to get widespread acceptance from the stakeholders and the Renegades ended up restructuring themselves.
Amidst all this uncertainty about the fate of the franchise, the Renegades believe that Ronchi is the right man to revive the fortunes of the club.
Clint McKay, high performance coach at the Renegades, said that he was very impressed with the new coach’s vision, leadership skills, and ability to bond with the players and make them take responsibility for their performances.
The New Zealand captain Tom Latham has also appreciated the role of Ronchi in the national set-up, attributing a lot of credit to him for making the players better at their game.
Ronchi was quite successful as a player before he became a coach. He played for Australia in four ODIs and three T20Is, but later he changed his colors to New Zealand, for whom he played in four Test matches, 81 ODIs, and 29 T20Is. Apart from that, he has been seen playing in many domestic T20 leagues, which includes the IPL, PSL, CPL, BPL, Big Bash League, Blast, Super Smash, and Afghanistan Premier League.
Commenting on his appointment, Ronchi revealed that the players had been going through a tough phase because of the uncertainty off the field but his first concern will be building an environment where the team can enjoy playing cricket and fight for the BBL trophy.
This year, the Renegades are anticipated to have their home games at various grounds including Marvel Stadium, the MCG, and Junction Oval, which will certainly make the process of selecting the final team tougher.
On the other hand, Cameron White embarks on a new chapter at the Melbourne Stars after having been in charge of the Renegades for two years. White has just coached the San Francisco Unicorns to the Major League Cricket play-offs and is set to work with Peter Moores, who takes up a mentoring and strategy coach’s role.
There are expectations that the Stars are going to be involved in the foreign player hunt and hope to build on a team that already has the likes of captain Marcus Stoinis and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
Both Melbourne sides are in search of new Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) coaches. Helmot has moved from the Renegades to coach Gulf Giants in the ILT20 tournament, while Christie is likely to take on the assistant coach’s job with the Stars. Some of the coaches who could possibly join the WBBL clubs include Gavan Twining and Michael Klinger.
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