Melbourne Renegades 143/4 (Finch 63*) beat adelaide strikers 142/7 (Carey 65, Ahmed 3-17) by six wickets
Finch survived some early scares – including a ball hitting his stumps but failing to clear the bails – scoring an unbeaten 63 to take the Renegades home with 10 balls to spare at the Marvel Stadium.
Australia’s T20 captain scored his fourth fifty of the tournament and 26th in the BBL as John Wells joined him to finish the match.
Finch remained calm as wickets fell around him, including former international stars Martin Guptill and Shaun Marsh, as he built his innings before consolidating the renegades in the last 10 overs from 16 for 3 in the third over.
After winning their maiden title in 2019, the Renegades endured three torrid seasons before embarking on a much better campaign.
They will now have a home final after taking care of the Strikers to halt a two-game losing streak and barring huge net run-rate swings, will be either third or fourth depending on Wednesday’s results.
The Sydney Thunder can move above the Renegades to third if they beat the Melbourne Stars at the MCG and bridge the gap on net run rate while the Brisbane Heat also lose.
Even Travis Head, who has become one of Test cricket’s most explosive middle-order players, scored 19 off 32 balls.
The Strikers’ innings dropped to a new low when Wells ran out Cameron Boyce on a long throw halfway through the boundary.
