Shaun Marsh has taken his frustration at being dropped from the Australian Test side out on Melbourne Renegades, with his well-crafted half-century helping Perth Scorchers to a comfortable victory on Wednesday night.
In his first innings since being squeezed out of the Australian team following a career-high 182 in Hobart, Marsh shared a BBL-record partnership of 171 runs with Michael Klinger in front of crowd of 26,787 fans at Etihad Stadium to see his side home by 10 wickets.
Marsh made 76 runs off 54 balls, while Klinger earned the man-of-the-match award for his 90 runs from 58 deliveries.
The result continues Renegades' winless run against Scorchers since the start of the BBL competition.
Having been sent in after losing the toss, Aaron Finch got his side off to a flyer with his innings of 72 from 48 balls in a 98-run opening partnership with Chris Gayle.
Gayle made 41 off 35 balls, including three towering sixes - one of which was superbly caught by a diving fan in the second tier - before he departed in Jason Behrendorff's final over, caught behind.
Behrendorff, who finished with figures of 2-14, removed Cameron White with his next delivery after he took a brilliant one-handed return catch.
He missed out on a hat-trick but his wickets reined in the Renegades, who were on pace for a total of over 200 before the lean period midway through their innings.
Finch was well caught in the deep by Ashton Agar off the bowling of David Willey in the 18th over, but Matthew Wade put in a handy cameo at the death with 35 off 25 balls.
Andrew Tye and Willey were lucky to escape serious injury when the pair collided near the boundary rope attempting to catch Dwayne Bravo in the final over.
In an Australian first, umpire Gerard Abood, concerned at the possibility of being struck by a straight drive after some near-misses, will wear a batting helmet during the match.
"We knew that if we got off to a pretty good start then we'd be close at the end," Marsh said.
"The way that Maxy Klinger batted right throughout that innings certainly took the pressure off me to find my rhythm a bit early on.
"It was a great win."
Finch marvelled at the clinical manner of the run chase.
"They're quality players and didn't really give us a sniff at all," Finch said.
"Their records at this ground are exceptional ... I can't remember getting them out too many times.
"It was a pretty clinical display by them."
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