Inspired by Dooley, Melbourne Renegades 'don't f*** it up'

On the wall in the changerooms at the MCG on Sunday hung a Melbourne Renegades shirt. It's a shirt that Renegades had carried with them throughout the entire WBBL and had in part carried them to their first WBBL final.

The shirt was Josie Dooley's. But the wicketkeeper-batter couldn't wear it this season after suffering a life-threatening neurological disorder in May. She is still in the midst of a long recovery just to get back to a normal life, let alone play cricket again.

On the back it had Dooley's name and her number three. But there was also four words written on it. Renegades had asked Dooley to write an inspirational message for her teammates to read when they left the rooms.

The words on the shirt said, "Don't f*** it up".

They didn't f*** it up. Renegades won the WBBL title for the first time in the club's history, having previously been one of the worst performing franchises in the competition.

Their coach Simon Helmot has just about seen it all in cricket. He's an infectious, energic, endlessly positive character who has won trophies all around the world in the men's game. But after winning the WBBL title, when talking about Dooley and others within Renegades' family, he broke down.

"She came to all the important games," Helmot said fighting back tears. "I said, 'Josie we need you here for the team meeting' yesterday, and she turns up.

"Cricket … it's more than just a game.

"It's about people and their trials and tribulations."

The club had been through more trials and tribulations than just about any other. And their title-winning captain Sophie Molineux had seen it all. She has been present for all 10 seasons. In the previous nine, Renegades had made the playoffs just three times and finished in the bottom two four times, including in each of the last two seasons.

Just moments after holding the trophy aloft as the franchise's first WBBL-winning captain, she was more stoic than her coach but every bit as proud of what her team had achieved.

"We've probably had a few really bad seasons," Molineux said. "To be able to turn that around, and just to be able to do it the way we have, it's been enjoyable. I feel really proud. It's been a great season."

There were moments, though, where they thought they might have f****** it up. Renegades started the season 0-2 after finishing last the previous year.

Helmot recounted a phone call he had with his star allrounder Hayley Matthews prior to those two losses, one of which Matthews had missed to fly home to Barbados for five days following the T20 World Cup in the UAE.

"She rang me to say she's not going to be here first game," Helmot said. "I was pretty disappointed at the time thinking, oh my goodness, our overseas pro is not going to be here at the start. But I remember how fatigued she was after the international calendar last season, coming straight into the WBBL. She made all those runs and then didn't quite work out for us, so we let Hayley have that game off, and she's repaid us."

It was Matthews who starred in the final, producing a clutch 69 off 61 with the bat to hold her team together and help post a total of 141 for 9 before taking two key wickets with the ball and a crucial catch to be named Player of the Match.

"Cricket is such a mentally straining game, and I feel like you really do need to refresh," Matthews said. "Big thanks to Helmo. Obviously, I think he noticed that big time last year, and he gave me the opportunity to get to go home and have a few days where I saw some family and friends and just rested up and come down here as fresh as possible."

Matthews looked nerveless when it could have gone pear-shaped for Renegades in the final. Having not played for eight days after finishing top of the table, they slumped to 23 for 3 after being sent again by Brisbane Heat.

Matthews has been there and done it before in big finals, producing match-winning hands in the finals of the 2016 T20 World Cup, and the WCPL and Fairbreak in 2023. But she revealed her nerveless performances are fuelled by intense nerves.

"I feel like I am someone who gets really nervous," Matthews said. "Shaky hands and some butterflies.

"I just tried to channel those nerves in the right direction. I feel as though they almost helped me to focus a bit more. And yeah, clearly it seems to be working. So I should probably try getting nervous a bit more often."

There were more nerves to come when Heat captain Jess Jonassen threatened to pinch the game late with a stunning innings. But it was Matthews and Molineux who combined to deliver the last two overs that closed out the game and left Jonassen visibly emotional at the end, after Heat had lost their second consecutive WBBL final by less than seven runs.

"I know people say it's all well and good getting into a final but I think I've lost my last six now across franchise cricket, so they're starting to pile up," Jonassen said. "It's been all in the last 12 months, so I think it's just sort of come to a head.

"It would have been nice to be the first team to get those three [WBBL] titles, but obviously, for some reason, it's just not meant to be right now."

It was meant to be for Renegades. Helmot revealed that the team knew that something was brewing after they recovered from their 0-2 start to record back-to-back nail-biting wins on the first weekend of November.

"Both Hayley and Soph said over that weekend, we have the makeup to do something really special," Helmot said. "And that probably gave me the inspiration to remind the girls that, yeah, it's been a tough start, zero and two. We got those two wins back at home, and all of a sudden, we made that place a fortress, and only dropped one game after that. It was a fantastic effort."