Melbourne Renegades retire ‘No 5’ jersey to honour Aaron Finch

Ahead of the Melbourne derby, the Big Bash League (BBL) franchise announced that they would retire the No. 5 jersey as an honour for the retiring 37-year-old Aaron Finch. Finch has been a long-standing club player, has overseen some turbulent times at the club, and has even led them to a BBL title in 2019. 

Finch is currently the seventh-highest run-scorer in T20 history, with 11,458 runs at 33.70 and a strike rate of 138.21. In the BBL, though, he is the second-highest run-scorer only behind Chris Lynn.

In the pre-match show, the announcers announced that the club have decided to retire the jersey in a first-ever move at the BBL level. It was followed by the jam-packed crowd at the Marvel Stadium to stand and applaud their charismatic all-time great, Finch. 

A fitting farewell for @AaronFinch5 🫶

The @RenegadesBBL have retired the No.5 jersey in honour of their main man. #BBL13 pic.twitter.com/ShQ8bejlVQ

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 13, 2024

"There've been some real lows but great highs [too], and I've loved every bit of the journey. No moment can compare to winning the BBL title,” Finch had earlier said, when announcing his retirement. 

"The title win (2018-19 BBL) was unbelievable," Finch said. "Especially against the Stars in a game where they well and truly had one hand, almost two hands on the trophy, and to drag it back and win that game was really special.

"I think just overall just getting to play here. It's such an unusual venue for cricket and we're the only team that does play cricket here. There's no other games, no international games or anything that happens so it's really cool."