Photo Credit: Melbourne Renegades
One of Victorian cricket’s all-time greats will join the Melbourne Renegades coaching staff for BBL|12.
Brad Hodge, who started his Big Bash journey as a Renegades player in the competition’s inaugural season, returns to the club as an assistant coach.
Hodge enjoyed a professional playing career which spanned 25 years, representing Australia in all three formats of the game.
He was one of the BBL’s first marquee men, averaging almost 43 with the bat across his 50 matches with the Renegades, Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers.
Hodge transitioned to a playing-assistant coach role while at the Strikers, has worked with Cricket Australia development sides and had stints as a head coach in the IPL with Kings XI Punjab and Gujarat Lions.
Over the past four years, he has had a front-row view of the Big Bash as a commentator with Channel 7.
Hodge is looking forward to using all his experience to help head coach David Saker build a winning culture at the Renegades.
“It’s great to be back. I’m super excited to get back into a different zone of Big Bash. I’ve been broadcasting for a couple of years, I played a few years ago – it’s such a great product,” Hodge said.
“I played for the ‘red’, I watched them win a title under Andrew McDonald and Aaron Finch. I’m looking forward to coming back and being part of that process.
“I love the process of building players up to match day, helping them prepare and ultimately performing on the day. Helping the young guys is something I’m really looking forward to, there’s so much talent there.
“The Melbourne Renegades haven’t been where they need to be in the last few years and I’m grateful to be part of this process and hopefully help ‘Sakes’ along the way to get us back at the top.”
Alongside his duties as assistant coach, Hodge will continue to be part of Channel 7’s broadcast team for the upcoming summer of cricket.
Melbourne Renegades General Manager, James Rosengarten, said he was thrilled to have Hodge return to the club.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Brad Hodge returning to the Renegades as part of our coaching group,” Rosengarten said.
“’Hodgey’ brings a wealth of experience to the role, having experienced the Big Bash and T20 cricket more broadly over many years as a player, captain, coach and commentator.
“As a player, he was a match-winner with the ability to read the game and deliver in pressure situations. We believe his experience will be invaluable for our batting group and particularly our talented, young players.
“Our head coach, David Saker, built a strong culture within our squad last summer and we see ‘Hodgey’ as a great support for him, alongside continuing to invest in the development of our players and pushing for team success.”
Melbourne Renegades memberships and tickets are now on sale. ‘Double Up’ memberships – which include access to two BBL matches and all WBBL matches – are just $15 for juniors and $55 for adults. Click here for full details.
To view the full BBL|12 fixture, click here.
BBL|12 Squad (so far): Nic Maddinson (C), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Jon Wells
