Black Caps slugger Tim Seifert has played a crucial role in propelling Melbourne Renegades to a two-wicket Big Bash win over Perth Scorchers at Marvel Stadium.
Chasing a modest target of 144 for victory, the home side were always well ahead of the required run rate, thanks in no small part to Seifert's whirlwind 28 runs off 14 balls early in the innings.
With opener Jake Fraser-McGurk falling in the opening over, the Kiwi wicketkeeper wasted little time stamping his influence on proceedings, finding the boundary with the third ball faced.
He took three consecutive deliveries from Jason Behrendorff to the ropes, including a towering straight six, then hit back-to-back boundaries off Matthew Kelly, before edging a catch to keeper Josh Inglis.
His 33-run second-wicket partnership with opener Josh Brown came in just 16 balls and although Brown fell four balls later, the remaining batters were able to pace their efforts, knowing they were ahead of the game.
Jacob Bethell eventually topscored with 30 off 22 balls, including two sixes, and captain Will Sutherland guided his team home with an over to spare.
Perth were always under pressure, after Black Caps opener Finn Allen was caught for a duck off the third ball of the innings and his team were reduced to 35/4 in the ninth over. Young Aussie Cooper Connolly steadied the batting with 66 off 50 balls, blasting six sixes, and his partnership of 49 with Matthew Spoors provided some respectability, but they were the only Scorchers in double figures.
After an opening loss, Melbourne have now won back-to-back matches and sit atop the Big Bash table. Seifert has scored 120 runs from his three innings, averaging 60 at a strike rate of 160.
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