Liam Hatcher was Player of the Match for his three-wicket haul
Melbourne Stars 4 for 153 (Stoinis 43, Larkin 43) beat Melbourne Renegades 150 (Harper 63, Hatcher 3-29) by six wickets
Glenn Maxwell’s Melbourne Stars lost the Bash Boost point but comfortably won the derby over Aaron Finch’s Melbourne Renegades at the MCG as an all-round bowling effort and forties from Marcus Stoinis and Nick Larkin took them to third on the BBL points table.
Sam Harper‘s 63 for the Renegades went in vain as they collapsed from 78 for 1 in the tenth over to 150 all out in the first innings, allowing the Stars to make up for a slow start before they won with five balls to spare.
It was the Renegades’ ninth defeat in 11 games this season, and their chances of a spot in the finals seems a distant dream. The Stars are behind second-placed Sydney Thunder (also on 23 points) only on net run-rate although only four points separate the teams between No. 2 and No. 7.
Renegades’ brief recovery after Finch duck
Maxwell bowled to his ODI captain Finch in the first over. But Finch’s stumps were knocked over in only the game’s second delivery when he missed a slog altogether after choosing to bat at the toss. Harper at No. 3 and the other opener Shaun Marsh then put on a 78-run stand in 59 deliveries that took them through till almost the 10th over.
Harper took the early risks, hitting Maxwell straight down for four and paddle scooping Billy Stanlake (2 for 28) for six in the first two overs. Marsh then joined in on the aggression, pulling Maxwell’s second over for four and depositing Afghan left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan (2 for 23) for a six into the sightscreens and as the tenth over approached, it looked like Renegades’ recovery after their captain’s dismissal was truly complete when a wayward Stanlake went for a few. But two balls before the halfway stage of the first innings, Stanlake made amends by bowling short, and forcing Marsh to find deep midwicket, dismissing him for a 21-ball 24.
Renegades fizzle out in final ten
At 79 for 2 after ten overs – with Harper set on a solid batting surface – the Renegades were set for a big total. But Zahir’s second spell began with a wicket as he bowled Jake Fraser-McGurk. The fourth-wicket stand between Harper, who by now had reached his fifty in 40 balls, and Mackenzie Harvey (29) then showed some promise, with the latter smoking Maxwell for a 13-run 14th over. Harvey then showed both force and guile in equal proportions as he took on the 15th over bowled by Liam Hatcher (3 for 29) by nearly putting a hole in the sightscreen with a six and then playing a late cut behind point. But the late cut also ended Harvey’s innings as a mistimed attempt at the same shot off Hatcher clipped the top of off. At that stage, Renegades were 4 for 120 with five overs to go.
However, it all went downhill from there. Zahir once again rattled the stumps as Beau Webster missed putting a short ball away. Stanlake removed Harper for 63 in the 18th over as he looked to improvise off a short ball with the run-rate plummetting, only to get an edge to the wicketkeeper. Hatcher then got Will Sutherland and Kane Richardson in the 19th over, giving Adam Zampa a crack at the 20th over. Zampa’s wrong’un in the fourth ball of the final over got Imad Wasim to mistime a catch to long-on and the Renegades lost their tenth wicket to a run-out when Pete Hatzoglou failed to complete a second run the following ball. The Renegades made 8 for 72 in their last ten, setting the Stars 151 to win the Melbourne derby.
Stoinis starts, Larkin ends
An injury to Andre Fletcher’s arm while opening the batting reduced the West Indian’s scope of shots in the opening overs and he was caught at point for 7 for Will Sutherland’s first wicket of the match. Maxwell, at No. 3, then struggled to find his range but Stoinis struck five fours and two sixes to romp to a 32-ball 43 which kept the Stars in touch with the required run-rate. However Stoinis’ dismissal in the ninth over meant a brief dip in the scoring rate, and that allowed the Renegades to take the Bash Boost point since the Stars could only reach 2 for 76 in 10 overs.
Maxwell’s uncharacteristic innings of 20 in 19 balls ended in the 15th over when he pulled Kane Richardson (2-24) fine to Pete Hatzouglou but Larkin found the occasional boundary, ensuring he saw off the tricky overs from Asian spinners Imad Wasim and Noor Ahmed. Richardson did dismiss Larkin for his 32-ball 43 in the 17th over as the batsman’s flick towards the leg side took a leading edge instead but by then, the Stars needed only 28 in 3.2 overs. Nic Maddinson (20*) released the pressure with a six off the 18th over’s first delivery and Hilton Cartwright (12*) bookended the 19th over with a four off Noor. That left the Stars needing four off the final over, and the first ball from Imad was hammered by Maddinson over the umpire’s head to seal a comfortable six-wicket win.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo