MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: Cameron Boyce (C) of the Renegades celebrates with teammates after dismissing Daniel Sams of the Thunder during the Men's Big Bash League match between the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Renegades at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on January 19, 2022, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)

The Melbourne Renegades could hand discarded spinner Cameron Boyce a lifeline despite not offering the veteran bowler a contract at the end of the Big Bash season.

Despite claiming 5/21 and a double hat-trick in Melbourne's final game of the season against Hobart, Boyce did not have his signature renewed for BBL|12, with the Renegades understood to have stunningly notified the 32-year-old of their decision prior to the match against the Hurricanes.

Boyce made a late-season return to David Saker's side after battling a calf issue for the past two years, playing four matches for the Renegades to claim the third most wickets for his club in the tournament.

The strong run of form was eventually met with tough discussions between Boyce and the Melbourne franchise, who opted not to offer the Queensland-born leg-break bowler a new deal ahead of the contract embargo on January 28.

While he remains without a new BBL deal, the Renegades haven't put a line through Boyce's chances of returning for next season.

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"It's very much a chance that he could be back with Renegades next year," Renegades general manager James Rosengarten told Cricket.com.au.

"It's just that we weren't in a position to be offering a new contract before that embargo period started.

"We do need to make some changes, mix things up and so I suppose that means not committing all the list spots right now and work(ing) through every position."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 31: Cameron Boyce of Australia celebrates with team mates after taking the wicket of Rohit Sharma of India during the International Twenty20 match between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 31, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Boyce currently ranks eighth on the all-time BBL wickets leaderboard, while also having claimed the second-most for the Renegades since joining from Hobart ahead of the 2018-19 season.

The Renegades will have a number of contract calls to make prior to the new season, with Marcus Harris, Josh Lalor, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge and Will Sutherland currently unsigned.

Saker's side are understood to be planning to keep several list spots open as the next BBL season arrives, while Adelaide Strikers batsman Jonathan Wells has been linked to the Melbourne club.

Rosengarten revealed that his side had held discussions with Wells and off-contract Hobart paceman Tom Rogers this off-season.

"We need to get more experience … we'll look to bring people into that middle (age) bracket, and to do that (we) need to get as many spots and flexibility as we can," Rosengarten said.

"One of those is some help for Kane (Richardson) in the tricky overs. Bringing in someone that can help him from a fast-bowling side will be one of our priorities and it already is, we've already done a lot of work bringing new local players particularly into the group for next year.

"We need players to come in and impact games and win games. Jon (Wells) would be one that we would very much want to speak to, we've got a need for some experience in that middle order.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 03: Jonathan Wells and Jake Weatherald of the Strikers fist bump during the Big Bash League match between the Adelaide Strikers and the Sydney Sixers at Metricon Stadium, on January 03, 2021, in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

"We've got an incredible group of young players that we've invested a lot of energy into and we're starting to see some real impact on games.

"Guys like (Will) Sutherland, (Jake) Fraser-McGurk and Mackenzie Harvey, we're starting to see some real benefits for those guys … (and) we want them to continue coming through with us.

"I think we need to just put some experience around them. We'll need a couple of free list spots to bring in new players, but it shouldn't come at the expense of (our) young emerging talent, it's just we need to have less reliance on those young players to be winning games for us now."

Wells was delisted by the Strikers at the end of BBL|11 after amassing the second-most runs for the season.