Maxwell replacement revealed with Stoinis to lead Stars

Marcus Stoinis has been tasked with leading Melbourne Stars back to the KFC BBL finals, succeeding Glenn Maxwell as the club's men's captain.

The Stars confirmed today Stoinis as their seventh full-time men's captain after Maxwell stepped down at the end of last season to focus on his playing role in the side.

Stoinis said he was honoured to take over from Maxwell having deputised for him last season when he missed their match against Perth Scorchers through injury.

"I had a little bit of a taste of captaining the side in 'Maxi's' absence last year and loved the opportunity, so to be given the role full time is a great honour," Stoinis said.

"The Stars have been such a constant in my life every summer for the last 10 years and I truly believe with the group we have assembled this season both on and off the field we can bring some long overdue success to the club."

Maxwell took over the Stars captaincy in BBL|08 and led the club to the season decider in his first two seasons in charge, losing the first to Melbourne Renegades before going down to Sydney Sixers by 19 runs in BBL|09.

The Stars haven't reached the BBL finals since and despite making positive steps forward last season, they lost their final three games of Maxwell's tenure to drop out of playoffs contention for the fourth straight year.

The 36-year-old – who remains contracted to the Stars until the end of BBL|15 – finished his five seasons at the helm with a win-loss record of 35-31, having missed the entire BBL|12 season as he recovered from a broken leg.

He is the club's games record holder as captain (65) and as a player (103).

"I want to acknowledge and thank Glenn Maxwell for all his efforts in leading the side over the past five seasons and he will continue to be a wonderful resource for everyone at the club," Stars general manager Blair Crouch said.

"Marcus demonstrated his leadership ability last year and has been a part of our leadership for a long time.

"It's wonderful to have someone who has been at the Stars almost from our inception lead our club in BBL|14."

Stoinis (98 games) signed a three-year extension at the end of last season and will become just the second player behind Maxwell to reach the 100-game milestone for the club.

He is also the club's second leading run-scorer of all-time (2656) behind Maxwell and the sixth leading wicket-taker (39).

Stoinis enjoyed a strong T20 World Cup campaign for Australia in June (169 runs and 10 wickets) and hit an unbeaten 61 from 27 balls in his last international match against Pakistan in Hobart last month.

He recently teamed up with Stars coach Peter Moores at Deccan Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10 competition, striking consecutive scores of 42 runs early in the tournament.

The 35-year-old's most recently captaincy experience was for Surrey Jaguars in Canada's Global T20 tournament earlier this year.

Stoinis faces a tough task in his first match as skipper with the Stars to launch the BBL|14 season when they travel to Perth to take on the Scorchers on Sunday.

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