Middle-order batter joins his third BBL club after he was let go by Adelaide Strikers
Alex Malcolm17-Aug-2022Melbourne Renegades have pounced on BBL stalwart Jon Wells signing him to a two-year deal after he was let go by Adelaide Strikers earlier this year.Wells, 34, sits fourth on the BBL’s all-time leading runscorers list behind Chris Lynn, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell. He has played 111 matches for Hobart Hurricanes and Strikers and had been a revelation in Adelaide having joined the club in 2017. He was second on the club’s all-time run-scoring list and played in their 2017-18 BBL title.But Strikers made the “difficult decision” to delist Wells at the end of last season despite him being their leading scorer in the 2021-22 tournament.Related
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Renegades have come in, signing him to add some more experience to their list alongside Finch, Shaun Marsh, Nic Maddinson and Kane Richardson.”It’s something I’m really looking forward to and I’m very excited to officially be a Renegade,” Wells said. “I think it’s a great list that’s coming together. From my side, it’s really exciting and a great challenge to come across and try to build some success. There’s a good mix of experience and some really good youth coming through, so hopefully we can get on the board early and take that momentum forward.”‘Sos [Shaun Marsh] is one I’ve played with previously and someone I’m looking forward to reuniting with and playing alongside again. There’s a few guys I’ve played a fair bit of cricket against over the years – it will be nice to be on the same team as guys like Finchy, Maddo and Richo, to name a few.”Playing in the Melbourne Derby is something I’m really looking forward to. To get a massive crowd there, it always makes it better and it’s always exciting when the fans are out and making some noise.”Wells is Renegades’ second signing of the off season after they poached quick Tom Rogers from Hurricanes with Renegades general manager James Rosengarten seeing Wells as a key cog in a batting line-up that has been top-heavy in recent years.”We identified a need for a player with Jon’s skill-set to bolster our middle order,” Rosengarten said. “He’s a smart cricketer with a proven ability to adapt his game to whatever the team requires when he’s out in the middle.”This off season, we’ve been really targeted with our list management approach. We see both Jon and Tom Rogers playing important roles for us.”The overseas player draft takes place on August 28.Melbourne Renegades squad: Nic Maddinson (capt), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Jon Wells
