Stumbling Stars misfire in 'the kill zone'

Losing the unloseable game against the Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium is unfortunately nothing new for the Melbourne Stars as they lamented letting another win slip ahead of two cut-throat games to finish the regular season.

Wednesday night's come-from-nowhere win from the Renegades against their cross-town rivals was not only a welcome boost after a horror season for the red half of Melbourne, it also dealt a significant blow to the Stars' chances of a top-two finish.

Needing to defend 63 runs from the final five overs, the Stars were on course to secure a win that would have moved them into second spot and three points clear of third.

Instead, the shock loss leaves them as one of six teams separated by just four points on the ladder who are all gunning for just four remaining places in the finals.

Having similarly let games slip against the Sixers and Hurricanes earlier in the season, the Stars know their inability to close matches out could prove costly in their quest to end their 10-year search for a maiden title.

"Pretty much every game's a final (for the rest of the season) and I think that's the case for four or five teams," batsman Nick Larkin said.

"We've just got to stump up and finish the games because we're getting ourselves in a lot of good positions. We just need to finish the game when we get in the kill zone like that.

"Unfortunately, we've let a couple slip and that hurts you, because you could be safely tucked away in second on the table.

"But if we play our best, we'll get those wins."

The Stars will finish the season with home games against the third-placed Scorchers and top-of-the-table Sixers knowing that losing both matches could see them slip out of the top five altogether.

Having famously let the BBL|08 crown through their fingers against the Renegades two seasons ago, the pressure on the Stars to win their maiden title having been one of the dominant teams in ten seasons of the KFC BBL will only intensify in the knockout stage of the competition.

The ability of teams to hold their nerve in a tight run chase has taken on a new dimension this season with the introduction of the two-over Power Surge, which the Renegades used to great effect on Wednesday as Mackenzie Harvey dragged his side back into the match.

Larkin said the two-over period of fielding restrictions proved pivotal, while he also took some of the blame for the loss despite being the only Stars batter to pass 40.

"I rode my luck and hung in and probably owed the team another 10 or 15 runs that I would have liked to get, and maybe that would have been enough to win," he said after his unbeaten 63 from 47 balls.

"It was a really disappointing one to let slip.

"You don't lose too many of those games (from that position), but the way it's gone this year with the Power Surge and guys backing themselves at the end … if you miss, guys are good enough to clear the boundary.

"We hadn't switched off by any stretch, I don't think anyone on the field had. We just ultimately didn't execute when it came down to it under pressure.

"Credit to Mackenzie, that was pretty ballsy stuff at the end there."

After a horror year that has so far yielded just three wins, Harvey said the Gades took extra satisfaction out of a victory that disrupted the finals chances of their crosstown foes, even if their own title hopes have long since been dashed.

"It's always nice to get one up on the hometown rivals," he said. "It's a feeling you can't really explain.

"Our aim is to win and if that upsets their finals chances or the spot they're in, so be it.

"Our main focus is getting our team over the line first and seeing what happens after that."