Waiting for the Stars: Why Maxwell, Stoinis barely batted in brutal BBL loss

The Melbourne Stars have been slammed for leaving two of their most dangerous hitters waiting on the sidelines during their chase of Hobart’s total in a rain-marred Big Bash elimination final on Wednesday night.

Speaking on Fox Cricket in the latter stages of the Hurricanes’ thrilling win, ex-Australian keeper-batter Brad Haddin said he didn’t know why Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis hadn’t batted sooner.

“I still don’t know why Maxwell and Stoinis weren’t in earlier facing more balls – they have left it too late,” he said of the Stars.

The defending champions Hobart posted 5-114 off a reduced 10 overs thanks to 47 from 26 balls from Test star Beau Webster. Needing 85 from just seven overs in reply, the Stars opened with Tom Rogers and player-of-the-tournament Sam Harper, with Joe Clarke batting at three and captain Stoinis and Maxwell four and five respectively.

The 37-year-old Maxwell only entered the fray in the second-last over of the match when Harper was stunningly retired with the required run rate surging.

The equation came down the Stars needing 26 runs off the final over, but they still only fell three runs short on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system after some late hitting from Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright. The Hurricanes advanced to face the Sydney Sixers for a sport in the grand final in Perth on Sunday night.

It was a brutal end to the season for the Stars, who could have locked up top spot and two bites at the cherry with a win over Perth in their final regular-season game.

“We’ll look back on a tournament where a lot of people played well. The frustration is that I think we were playing well enough to win it,” Stars coach Peter Moores said afterwards.

Loading

“If it didn’t hurt you, you wouldn’t be human in some way. We’ll take it on the chin and we’ll move on.”

Stoinis was caught on the fence for nine off five deliveries, while Maxwell was unbeaten on nine from four. Haddin said that “with the power in this form of the game”, the pair simply “needed to face more balls”.

Moores defended the team’s use of Maxwell and Stoinis in the truncated chase.

“We sent out two lads who have played really well … to send them out for the two overs of power play made complete sense,” he said.

“Joe Clarke is an opener as well. We lost an early one in Tommy [Rogers] and [sent out] Joe, and then obviously the rain came. Marcus [Stoinis] was next and Maxi [Maxwell] after that. You’re making decisions as the game evolves. I think we made the right calls.”

Australian great Mark Waugh, who was also commentating, suggested Maxwell’s current form worked against him.

“If he was in better form, he would have demanded opening, but I just think he probably wasn’t that confident to do it,” Waugh said.

But Haddin replied: “Even Stoinis … in a seven-over game, it doesn’t matter – he’s not going to face 10 balls. If he faces 10 balls, he’ll be 25 runs. I just think they got it wrong there.”

Earlier, Haddin said: “I don’t want to be playing at the back end of the game with Maxwell and Stoinis only batting one or two overs. Marcus Stoinis is one batter who can get 20 off the last over.”

Stoinis is 13th on the list of the highest run-scorers this Big Bash season, but the out-of-form Maxwell is an eye-popping 59th.

Harper, meanwhile, is third with 381 runs from 11 matches at an average of 54.42 and a strike rate of 155.51.

Proven commodities Maxwell and Stoinis were named in the Australian squad for this year’s T20 World Cup, while Harper missed out.

Loading

The Stars were 1-9 when rain forced players off the field, with their victory target altered under DLS.

Cartwright hit Mitch Owen for six off the second-last ball of the innings, leaving the Stars needing five to win and four to tie – and force a super over – from the final delivery.

But Owen held his nerve, keeping Cartwright to just a single as the Stars finished at 4-81.

Moores also said a tweak to the power surge rule should be discussed after the Stars lost the fielding restriction tactic when their target was adjusted.

Click here to read article