Updated ,first published
Cricket Victoria will kill off the Melbourne Stars and Renegades brands to merge them into one team under the state banner, informing staff of the intended change on Tuesday afternoon.
The second BBL licence owned by CV will be sold in its entirety to a private investor, pending approval of Cricket Australia’s plans to allow for a phased “self-determination model” for the sale of stakes in BBL clubs by state associations.
This masthead has confirmed the announcement made to shocked staff, first reported by SEN, was made on Tuesday afternoon at Junction Oval by CV chief executive Nick Cummins.
“There are a couple of bridges that need to be crossed before the sale goes ahead,” Cummins told this masthead.
Contacted about the merger, CA stated: “We are still working with states on private investment models.”
The merger will make three current members of staff redundant, while others move from the Renegades into the larger entity. The new club will be run by current Melbourne Renegades general manager James Rosengarten.
Melbourne Stars general manager Max Abbott will serve as caretaker general manager for the Renegades, pending a final approval for the sale of the licence to a private investor.
Should the sale to a private investor not go ahead in time for this season, the second Melbourne team will still compete in the BBL as the Melbourne Renegades.
The playing lists of the Stars and the Renegades will remain separate, pending concurrent negotiations with the Australian Cricketers’ Association.
High-profile pair Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis are both long-term Stars players, while Victorian captain Will Sutherland, international spinners Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon and highly touted teenager Ollie Peake are just some of the players contracted to the Renegades.
Cummins was one of a group of state chief executives who joined CA boss Todd Greenberg on a trip to India last week to meet with potential investors in the BBL at an event in Mumbai run by the Raine Group, which is advising CA on potential terms of sale.
CV has had a problematic relationship with the dual BBL clubs since it made the 2019 decision to sack the independent chief executives and boards of the two clubs. Those boards had been put in place in 2011 when CV was keeping its options open in terms of selling future stakes.
But the decision to dissolve the boards, aimed at returning control of the clubs to CV more directly, unseated the Stars’ high-profile chair Eddie McGuire and his Renegades equivalent Jason Dunstall.
Since then, the Renegades have struggled for profitability, and have been in the process of negotiating new host venue arrangements after the expiry of their previous deal at Marvel Stadium.
While more successful in terms of sponsorship and fan following, the Melbourne Stars have never won the BBL in their history, coming closest when they lost the 2019 final to the Renegades from a winning position.
The Stars have been the team of many luminaries over the years, from Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen to Maxwell and Stoinis.
Sydney Thunder confirm England legend as new coach
AAP
English cricket legend Andrew Flintoff has been tasked with inspiring the Sydney Thunder up the BBL ladder after his appointment as coach.
Following weeks of speculation, the reigning wooden spooners confirmed on Tuesday that Flintoff had signed a two-year deal to replace Trevor Bayliss.
Known simply as “Freddie”, Flintoff is remembered for his prolific career as an all-rounder that yielded 272 international caps across all formats.
He was crowned player of the 2005 Ashes series, when England clinched the storied urn for the first time since the summer of 1986/87.
As a coach, Flintoff led England Lions on tour of Australia over the summer and also Northern Superchargers, now known as Sunrisers Leeds, for two seasons of the Hundred.
Under Flintoff’s leadership, the Superchargers surged from wooden spooners in 2023 to semi-finalists two seasons later.
He will continue to coach England Lions, who are currently playing a multi-format series against South Africa A, while in charge of the Thunder.
“I can’t wait to get over there and get started,” Flintoff said.
“You look around the world now and everyone gets the opportunity to play for all different teams, but one of my aims over the time with Sydney Thunder is that every player looks back thinking, ‘That’s the best part of the year, that’s a team that I want to play for’.”
Flintoff was left disfigured after a 2022 crash that took place during filming of an episode of BBC television show, Top Gear.
The former England captain later told a Disney+ documentary on his life, titled Flintoff, about the depression and post-traumatic stress that kept him at home for seven months after the incident.
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.
