Melbourne Renegades snap up Josh Brown

Brisbane Heat’s 2024 Big Bash League (BBL) winner, Josh Brown, will join Melbourne Renegades on a two-year deal from the upcoming edition. 

According to ESPNCricinfo reports, the Renegades view Brown as a replacement for Aaron Finch, who has retired from all formats of the game. Brown broke into the scene at the age of 28 with the Heat after impressing the selectors with his performances at the Brisbane Grade cricket. 

Brown scored a stellar century last year, scoring 140 off just 71 balls against Adelaide Strikers in the Challenger. Not just that, he has had a solid start to his BBL career, with 624 runs in the competition, striking at 149.64, a major reason behind the hype. 

Renegades’ general manager, James Rosengarten, showed his excitement after the recruitment, stating that the 30-year-old has a good balance of aggression and composure. 

"We are extremely excited to have Josh join our squad," Rosengarten said. "We've identified a clear role for Josh in our batting order which will have a new look this year.

"Josh possesses a good balance of aggression and composure, which we all witnessed in the recent BBL finals series. We've been watching Josh for a while so his strong season and BBL finals series were no surprise."

Brown will pair up with another monstrous batter, Jake Fraser-McGurk, at the top of the order for the Renegades. 

"I've enjoyed my time with the Heat, they gave me my opportunity, for which I'll always be grateful and have cherished memories including winning a BBL Championship last season," he said. "But I am extremely excited for a new challenge and hopefully achieve the same success with the Renegades.

"It's a young group with a lot of talent and firepower, especially in that batting group. I can't wait to partner with the likes of Jake Fraser-McGurk and Will Sutherland and see what we can do."