Image Credit- Getty
In order to replace the injured Joe Clarke for the
final two BBL games of the season, the Melbourne Renegades have sent an SOS to
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards.
In preparation for the competition, Edwards and the
Netherlands team are now in South Africa for a month-long camp and five
practice matches against SA20 sides.
However, Edwards—who is also an Australian citizen—is
flying out of South Africa early to go back to his hometown of Melbourne in
order to be available for the Renegades’ final two BBL games. Without Quinton
de Kock, who will be leaving for the SA20 after Thursday’s game against the
Hobart Hurricanes, the team will be without a specialist wicketkeeper-batter.
Edwards, 27, is eligible as a local of Australia and
participated in practice matches for the Renegades before to the BBL. However,
none of the BBL teams signed the captain of the Netherlands ODI and T20I teams,
who had an outstanding ODI World Cup in India with both bat and gloves. This
was the case even though the Stars had just one specialist wicketkeeper in
their 18-man lineup.
Rather, Edwards played club cricket in Melbourne
during December before travelling to South Africa with the Dutch team. However,
on January 11 he will return to Melbourne, where he will be available for the
team’s second Melbourne derby against the Stars at Marvel Stadium on January 13
and, if needed, for their last home-and-away game of the season against Sydney
Thunder on January 17.
Despite taking home the Ryder Medal for being
Victoria’s Premier Cricket competition’s finest player in 2021, Edwards has
never participated in the BBL or signed a contract. Despite being qualified as
a local, he has never been signed to play domestically in Australia, though he
has represented Victoria in the second XI four-day league run by Cricket
Australia, which is the tier below Sheffield Shield cricket.