The Renegades were tearaway table leaders with seven wins and only one loss through the six-week qualifying series and now miss the cash riches on offer to play in a $13million Champions League in October.
The Renegades were ditched from the finals when a barnstorming Brisbane jumped from seventh to fourth with a last-round triumph over Hobart and a fourth win of the qualifying series.
Under Australian Big Bash series regulations only the two grand finalists qualify for the tournament in India or South Africa with other Twenty20 domestic champions from around the globe.
Teams enter the competition fully versed with exactly how to make the title play-off decider on Saturday January 19 as well as the lucrative Champions League.
Any slip-up in a semi-final is immensely costly.
That should change.
The team finishing the home-and-away qualifying stage should automatically qualify for the big money ticket tournament overseas.
Finch as one of the most belligerent batsmen of the series with his 332 runs at an average of 66.4 and his Renegades were standouts of the summer.
The Renegades finished two games clear at the head of the eight-team ladder but were bundled from the title race when a late-surging Brisbane Heat continued in stunning form to smash 183 for the loss of only three wickets and Finch’s team in reply fell an agonising 15 runs short to miss the title showdown.
Finch, who was dumped from Australia's limited-overs team to lead his Renegades, was bundled from BBL title contention chiefly by a stunning and unbeaten 112 by reborn power-hitter Luke Pomersbach.
The Renegades should have automatically qualified for the Champions League by taking such an emphatic minor premiership.
The BBL grand final should now have an added incentive to the ultimate winner staking claim to Australia’s second spot in the rich annual tournament with teams from India, South Africa and England.
Qualification for the rich Champions League prior to the eight-team Big Bash League was for the state team finishing at the head of a six-team table to win direct passage to grand final and the Champions League.
A semi-final was played between teams finishing second and third to decide the other grand finalist as well as the nation's second Champions League participant.
All BBL franchise players and management know full well the rules before they start the annual tournament.
An additional incentive to the respective higher finishing semi-finalists is to stage their knockout clash on their home ground.
But an extra incentive to actually finish at the top should be on offer.
Debate around whether a minor premier is decided by such a significant two-game margin as with the Renegades this season, or indeed last summer when three teams Perth, Hobart and Sydney Sixers finished with equal points from five wins each and were separated from first to third by net-run-rate only.
Top Australian cricket officials will conduct a full review of this summer’s Big Bash before the end of the current domestic season.
All states and BBL franchises are able to lodge submissions and suggestion for change.