Scorchers steamroll Stars to open BBL|13 account

Two-time defending champions Perth Scorchers remain the KFC BBL benchmark, overpowering the Melbourne Stars by seven wickets at the MCG.

After skittling the Melbourne top order on Wednesday night and dismissing them for 101 in 19.1 overs, the five-time winners extended their winning streak over the Stars to six by scoring 3-102 in 13.5 overs.

Brisbane also clobbered the Stars by 103 runs in the BBL season opener last week.

It was a return to normal service for Perth after last Sunday's farcical match in Geelong against the Melbourne Renegades, which was called off after just 6.5 overs because of a waterlogged pitch.

Perth left-arm opening bowler Jason Behrendorff starred with 3-28, including a rare T20 double-wicket maiden after the Scorchers won the toss and made the most of the humid conditions.

"It's a nice start after a false start in Geelong – we talked about being aggressive and throwing the first punch ... we did it quite well tonight," he said.

The obvious difference on Wednesday night was the fortunes of the two top orders - the Stars lost their first two wickets in as many overs while the top three Scorchers all made at least 20.

The Stars were energetic in the field, but run-out chances went begging – opener Cooper Connolly backed up too far on the second ball of the Scorchers innings and would have been well short had Nick Larkin's throw hit the stumps.

Aaron Hardie had only made one when Liam Dawson's throw also just missed.

Connolly scored 20, fellow opener Stevie Eskinazi made 25 and Hardie contributed 20 at No.3 to anchor the innings.

It was a tale of near-misses in the field for the Stars – Josh Inglis had made seven at 3-75 when he misjudged a delivery from spinner Usama Mir, and Haris Rauf just failed to reach a difficult chance.

Inglish (17no) and Ashton Turner (19no) closed out the match.

Behrendorff snared acting Stars captain Marcus Stoinis and Nick Larkin in the ninth over.

As good as the Scorchers were, the Stars batted poorly on a wicket that had been under cover for much of the last 48 hours.

Liam Dawson made 22 at No.8, and Haris Rauf (8) showed up their teammates by putting on 21 for the last wicket and taking the score past 100, while Hilton Cartwright top-scored with 24 from 18 balls.

A missed run-out chance and a dropped catch spared Melbourne from an even more embarrassing total.

Left-arm spinner Hamish McKenzie was on a hat-trick in the 14th over when he dismissed Cartwright and Usama Mir for his first BBL wickets, but Joel Paris safely defended his first delivery.

Player-of-the-match McKenzie impressed with a miserly 2-12 from his overs.

Melbourne's inclement start to December had threatened to disrupt the game, with rain forecast and lightning delaying the toss. But fortunately, the showers stayed away.

With Glenn Maxwell (forearm) injured, Stoinis captained the Stars, who were also be without Nathan Coulter-Nile (calf) and Joe Burns (illness).

KFC BBL|13 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	10	7	1	0	2	0.972	0	16
2 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	10	6	2	0	2	0.339	0	14
3 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	10	6	3	0	1	0.725	0	13
4 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	10	5	4	0	1	0.331	0	11
5 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	10	4	6	0	0	-0.268	0	8
6 Melbourne Stars Men STA	10	4	6	0	0	-1.051	0	8
7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	10	2	6	0	2	-0.288	0	6
8 Sydney Thunder Men THU	10	1	7	0	2	-0.652	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

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