Hilton delivers on past week's work with 'unbelievable' hit

Hilton Cartwright has credited batting coach Ben Rohrer with helping unlock his power-hitting prowess after his stunning late cameo powered Melbourne Stars to a thrilling derby win over the Renegades.

Cartwright smashed Tom Rogers for a humongous 121m six over long on followed by a four through midwicket to ice the game with just two deliveries remaining and give the Stars their second win in a row.

The right-hander finished 24 not out from 12 balls in a stand of 44 from 21 with Glenn Maxwell (20no off 10) to breathe life into the Stars season after they lost their first five games in KFC BBL|14.

Cartwright has spent the majority of his Big Bash career batting at No.5 but has dropped down to seven for the Stars' past two matches to play the 'finisher' role with Beau Webster called up to make his Test debut.

Captain Marcus Stoinis, who has batted at 3, 4 and 5 this season, said they were trying to be flexible in how they lined up each game while also maintaining stability in the middle-order with himself, Maxwell and Cartwright generally following each other.

"I've done a lot of work with our batting coach over the last week with my power hitting, and he's been pretty cooked at times," Cartwright said last night at the MCG following their five-wicket win.

"So (I've) got to thank 'Rohrs' (Rohrer) for that – it was definitely nice to get some reward.

"The partnership between Ben (Duckett, 67 off 49) and 'Stoin' (48 off 35) was pivotal for our run chase.

"At times (this season), we've seen to fall short towards the back end of games.

"Having 'Maxi' (Maxwell) at the other end takes a lot of pressure off me early to allow me to swing hard in the last over."

Stars head coach Peter Moores said Cartwright's hitting finished off Maxwell's work from the previous over where he played an "extraordinary" reverse lap over the wicketkeeper for six off Gurinder Sandhu.

"When you need 10 off the last over and the first two balls go for one, it's easy to panic and just swing and he didn't," Moores said.

"He played an unbelievable shot.

"It was a massive hit but it was delivered from all the basics you want – solid base, great backswing and target straight and that was really the winning shot."

Despite the win improving their BBL|14 record to 2-5, the Stars remain at the foot of the standings and realistically need to win their final three games of the home-and-away season to be any chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

Adelaide Strikers scraped into the BBL|13 finals last year with five wins, which is the number the Stars would achieve if they won their remaining three matches.

But Cartwright said they could only focus each game and who were coming up against next to try and avoid "dead rubbers".

"It's just nice to just to get some reward," he said, having been at the crease when the winning runs were scored in their past two games.

"The other games, albeit we lost all five of them, we were in games (but) at times we were losing crucial moments.

"The last two games, we've been in the whole time, and thankfully, been on the positive side of those results and winning those small moments.

"We've just got to focus each game at a time around who we're coming up against, what the conditions are doing and sum up how we're going to chase totals or set totals.

"I think that's held us good stead for these last two games."

The Stars play their last three games all in Melbourne (two at the MCG and a return derby at Marvel Stadium), but it doesn't get any easier for their next match where they face the table-topping Sydney Sixers at home on Thursday night.

KFC BBL|14 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 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	6	4	1	0	1	0.228	0	9
2 Sydney Thunder Men THU	6	4	2	0	0	0.167	0	8
3 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	5	4	1	0	0	-0.154	0	8
4 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	7	3	3	0	1	-0.518	0	7
5 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	6	3	3	0	0	0.785	0	6
6 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	6	2	4	0	0	0.413	0	4
7 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	7	2	5	0	0	-0.299	0	4
8 Melbourne Stars Men STA	7	2	5	0	0	-0.531	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