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AAP
AAP
Scott Bailey

Renegades ready to make use of super-human Matthews

The Melbourne Renegades hope Hayley Matthews' rich vein of form can continue for them in the WBBL. (Steve Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

Melbourne Renegades insist they are perfectly placed to make use of Hayley Matthews' super-human run of form, backing their batting to support the West Indies star.

Matthews was a one-woman band on their recent tour of Australia, scoring 310 runs off 178 balls in the three Twenty20s.

The Windies' only win came when Matthews blitzed 132 from 64 balls in the second T20 at North Sydney Oval, while her teammates failed to bat around her in the other two games.

It's something the Renegades say they are confident they can do ahead of their WBBL season-opener against Brisbane on Friday.

The allrounder will likely open with England star Tammy Beaumont, while Harmanpreet Kaur and the returning Jess Duffin also feature in the Renegades squad.

"If she does that a few games for us and we'll be laughing," spinner Georgia Wareham told AAP.

"You need that one person to be consistent and someone to rely on.

"With the batting order that we've got, we probably won't need to rely on her as heavily as the West Indies team do.

"The quality that we've got around her is is really exciting as well with Tammy and Harmanpreet. So that makes it really exciting."

Matthews battled through last year's WBBL, not passing 50 in any of her 14 innings and averaging 19.46 as the Renegades ran second last.

But after being one of the leading run-scorers in India's Women's Premier League in March, Matthews has earned player-of-the-match honours in all six T20 internationals she has played since.

"When she was hitting us around, it was sort of like hopefully she doesn't use them all up against Australia and can keep some for the Renegades," Wareham said.

"The form she's been in over the last little bit has shown that she can sort of have that consistency with her game.

"Since the WPL she just dominated that competition and ever since then she's just been unbelievable."

Rival teams do, however, believe there can be some upside to Australia's recent battles against Matthews after she was restricted to scores of 23 and 20 in the ODIs.

Off-pace deliveries had some success, as did offering no room outside off stump as Melbourne Stars quick Kim Garth removed her twice.

"We've seen enough footage and we did a lot of analysis and thinking through our plans, particularly after those first two T20s," Garth said. 

"As a unit we bowled a lot better to her as the series went on. Hopefully we can take that into the Melbourne Stars and conjure up a few plans when we play her."

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