Nic Maddinson to captain Melbourne Renegades after Aaron Finch stands down

Nic Maddinson will captain Melbourne Renegades in the upcoming BBL with long-time skipper Aaron Finch standing down to fill a role as a senior mentor.

Maddinson has not played a game yet for Renegades after making the move from Melbourne Stars during the off-season. Renegades is the third BBL franchise he will play for after starting his career at Sydney Sixers. He has captained both the Sixers and the Stars, leading as a stand-in skipper in eight BBL games. He has also captained New South Wales six times in the Sheffield Shield.

Finch, who has captained Renegades since 2012-13 and led the team to a BBL title in 2018-19, opted to stand down after a discussion with new coach David Saker.

"That was a really easy one, to be honest," Finch said on Thursday. "It was a chat I had with Sakes, probably two months, six weeks ago about I think just having a young family and I guess captaining every game that you play around the world.

"It does take its toll and probably doesn't allow you enough time at times to be able to work on your own game as much as you would like and I suppose in the Big Bash we've got a really young squad at the Renegades and I think to have the opportunity to work with the young players a bit closer as just as a player and not have your focus taken away from just helping them out as much as you can by meetings and strategy meetings and things like that, I think it will be really important.

"Hopefully I can be a really important part of the transition with Maddo as captain as well. I think I wouldn't like to leave the Renegades, say I play for two more years and I just captain right to the end of that and there's been no real succession plan, I think that would be a bit unfair. So hopefully I can still have an impact with Maddo and sort of help him if need be."

Maddinson was pleased that Finch would be there to help him in his new role.

"It's a huge honour and a challenge I'm really looking forward to. It's a great group of players with some young guys mixed in with experienced players," Maddinson said.

"Taking over from someone like Finchy is a huge task but having him around to help out and be that experienced head will be a great plus for me."

Maddinson is unlikely to be available for Renegades first three fixtures given he will almost certainly be playing for Australia A against England Lions in a four-day game in Brisbane starting on December 9. Renegades will also be without Marcus Harris due to Test duty while veteran Shaun Marsh looks set to miss a large chunk of the BBL after tearing his calf during Western Australia's Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland last week.

Finch is also in doubt for the first match of the tournament after revealing his surgically repaired knee had caused him problems in the field during the T20 World Cup.

"I pushed the rehab really hard and probably paid the price for it a little bit throughout the tournament," Finch said. "Maybe a little bit more time off at the moment to just make sure I get that right.

"I'll wait and see over the next couple of weeks and not sure when our first game is for the Renegades [against] Adelaide but we'll wait to see if I'm right."

Renegades' first match is scheduled for December 7 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.