Aaron Finch leads Melbourne Renegades to tight victory over Sydney Thunder

Finch score 70 not out off 43 balls to help his side chase down 175 with one ball to spare

Melbourne: Sydney Thunder 174-6, Melbourne Renegades 175-6 - Melbourne Renegades won by four wickets

Scorecard

Aaron Finch starred with the bat to steer Melbourne Renegades to a four-wicket victory over Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash.

The Australian captain reminded doubters of just how good he can be with 70 runs off 43 balls to help his side chase down 175 with one ball to spare and maintain their unbeaten record in BBL12.

Sydney Thunder were brave in defeat, bouncing back from their record-breaking loss against Adelaide Strikers. Burying the demons of being bowled out for 15, they won the toss and elected to bat.

^{Rilee Rossouw scored a half-century in vain for Sydney Thunder [Darrian Traynor/Getty Images]}

Rilee Rossouw (53 off 38) survived an lbw shout and a run out early in his innings to anchor his side after the early departures of Matthew Gilkes and Alex Hales.

He was eventually removed by Tom Rogers before a middle order acceleration ensured Thunder closed on a competitive 174 for 6. Alex Ross (39 off 23, Oliver Davies (33 not out off 18) and Chris Green (10 not out off five) inflicted the bulk of the damage late in the innings.

The chase looked more difficult when Sam Harper was outfoxed by Gurinder Sandhu in the first over but captain Nic Maddinson (39) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (24) steadied the ship in a partnership worth 41.

The usually reliable Jono Wells and T20 veteran Andre Russell departed in quick succession as Daniel Sams (3 for 33) threatened to take the game away from the Renegades but Finch used all of his experince to navigate the remainder of the chase in the company of Akeal Hosein and Will Sutherland.

Making use of the power surge, he and Hosein headed into the final over needing 11 runs off six balls and he harnessed all of his power to hit a six down the ground before a couple of twos saw his team over the line.