Stars' core clear on roles after epic comeback: BBL|14 review

There were many things that went right for Melbourne Stars in the second half of KFC BBL|14 that didn't in the first half, but coach Peter Moores believes one that made a big difference went mostly unnoticed.

"Our running between the wickets, the quality of our fielding – some of the unsexy things around the game we had to get better at," Moores said.

"We know we've got some very exciting players who could change a match, and we saw that, especially in the second half through Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Siddle and Mark Steketee.

"But what we had make sure we were doing those less seen things – saving a run here, picking up a run there, taking a catch somewhere that can turn a game and put them all together.

"That can be the difference, the 10 or 15 runs you need to win a game."

Moores says the Stars "found ways to lose" in the first half of the season, slumping to a 0-5 start from positions where he'd expect a team to win at least 50 per cent of matches.

Defeats to Sydney Sixers after posting 194, and then Sydney Thunder after losing 3-5 in the 18th over of their run chase, figure as games that got away.

An honest team meeting after that loss to the Thunder in Canberra – which saw their chances of reaching the finals slip to less than 4 per cent – proved the catalyst for a remarkable resurgence as the Stars went undefeated through the rest of the home-and-away season to qualify for their first finals campaign in five years.

"We had a very open chat, and it was pretty clear about certain areas we wanted to get better at," Moores said.

"In the first five games we could have easily won two or three of those games quite comfortably, but we didn't.

"The turnaround meant that all those moments in the game where the game was open for a side to take it, we took the chance either with the bat or ball and that was a significant difference."

They also changed their team around, with experienced fast bowlers Mark Steketee and Joel Paris recalled with stunning success, capturing 23 wickets between them over the next five games, including consistent breakthroughs with the new ball.

First-year captain Marcus Stoinis galvanised the group against Brisbane Heat on New Year's Day with a match-winning 62 from 48 balls that gave them belief they weren't done just yet.

The Glenn Maxwell show then got rolling with the mercurial allrounder producing an incredible stretch of batting with innings of 20 (10), 58no (32), 90 (52) and 76no (32) as the Stars surged to five straight wins to complete a miracle comeback and book a top four spot.

Maxwell's 52-ball 90 against the Renegades in the second Melbourne derby of the season will be remembered as one of competition's the greatest knocks of all-time, reprising memories of his World Cup double-century against Afghanistan.

Their crosstown rivals had them on the ropes at 7-75 before Maxwell flipped the script, farming the strike to score all 79 runs off the bat in a partnership of 81 with Usama Mir as the Stars posted 165 at Marvel Stadium.

Steketee (5-17) and Paris (3-13) hen orchestrated a Renegades collapse as the Stars reclaimed their own destiny heading into their final match of the regular season against the Hurricanes.

"Probably the best innings I've ever seen live," Moores said of Maxwell's innings against the 'Gades.

"Like all the great players, they're thinking of solutions to problems, not the problem itself."

Unfortunately, the fairytale comeback was short-lived as the Stars succumbed to the Thunder in the Knockout final, but the club – who will have a new general manger next season after the resignation of Blair Crouch – will be hoping looking to carry the momentum of their barnstorming finish into BBL|15.

Registering early wins, so they're not facing virtual elimination every match, will undoubtedly be key.

Season snapshot

BBL|14 result: Fourth (5 wins, 6 losses), lost Knockout to Thunder by 21 runs (DLS method)

 

Most runs: Glenn Maxwell (325 at 54.16)

 

Best strike rate (min. 50 runs): Glenn Maxwell (186.78)

 

Most wickets: Mark Steketee (15 at 9.40)

 

Best economy (min. 10 overs): Joel Paris (6.59)

 

Contracted for BBL|15: Scott Boland (contracted until BBL|15), Hilton Cartwright (BBL|15), Tom Curran (BBL|15), Liam Hatcher (BBL|16), Glenn Maxwell (BBL|15), Hamish McKenzie (BBL|15), Tom Rogers (BBL|16), Peter Siddle (BBL|15), Marcus Stoinis (BBL|16), Mitch Swepson (BBL|17)

 

Ins: Liam Hatcher (Thunder), Mitch Swepson (Heat)

 

Outs: Beau Webster (Hurricanes), Joel Paris (Scorchers)

 

Uncontracted: Austin Anlezark, Joe Clarke, Brody Couch, Ben Duckett, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Dan Lawrence, Blake Macdonald, Jon Merlo, Adam Milne, Usama Mir, Mark Steketee, Doug Warren

International impact

The Stars used the most overseas players of the eight clubs in BBL|14 with their three primary picks – Ben Duckett, Tom Curran and Usama Mir – all being replaced throughout the season. Duckett was one of the standouts with three half-centuries in his seven appearances to finish as the third highest Stars run getter (243 at 34.71) behind Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. Duckett missed both the start and end of the campaign due to England tours of New Zealand and India respectively, with his best knock his 29-ball 68 against the Sixers on Boxing Day.

"He brought a quality to the tournament," head coach Peter Moores said of Duckett. "I thought he played brilliantly, he got us out of the blocks pretty well every time and showed how far he's moved himself as a player. Ashes next summer so it might be difficult to get him back but he's a player we'd want to stay in contact with because he's such an awkward guy to bowl at in T20 cricket now."

Unfortunately, star pre-draft recruit Curran spent half of the campaign on the sidelines with a calf injury. His replacement, Dan Lawrence, was instrumental in kickstarting the Stars' resurgence in his first game with an unbeaten 64 off 38 in a match-turning 132-run partnership with Stoinis against the Heat. Curran took five wickets in his six games and had a top score of 37, which he'll be hoping to build on when he returns in BBL|15 for his second season with the Stars.

Mir, apart from not getting out in his sensational partnership with Glenn Maxwell against the Renegades, was also extremely effective with his leg-spin in the Stars comeback, capturing 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.70 in his eight games. New Zealand speedster Adam Milne provided one of the highlights of the season by clean bowling compatriot Finn Allen second ball in the season opener against the Scorchers, one of his three wickets during his three-game stint, while Joe Clarke also returned to the club for the first two games of BBL|14, scoring 32 in the second after a duck in Perth.

Season recap with head coach Peter Moores

The comeback

"It was an amazing season. Anybody who loses every game in the first half – lose five, win five – it was an amazing turnaround. My takeaway from the season was we built something; we built on last year.

"A very frustrating start, where we had a new captain in Marcus Stoinis who did a great job at holding everything together. Then we got our rewards when we started to find a way to win. In the first half of the season, we couldn't take a winning opportunity and in the second half we did, and that was a big difference between the two halves really."

New captain

"When you first come into captaincy, you want to do well straight away. Marcus (Stoinis) managed to balance his desire to win really well with being able to stay calm when we lost games and identify the areas we needed to get better.

"Marcus put his stamp on the game. He's following on from Glenn (Maxwell) who's been Mr Stars in many ways and credit to Glenn how he fitted in under Marcus to make it straightforward for him.

"It was probably summed up how he led when we qualified against the Hurricanes in the final game at the MCG, literally everybody came to him, and they all walked off together as a team. That felt like he'd got the lads behind him; he got us all working together and it felt like a good unit at that point. It was frustrating for us to go into the Knockout and not get over the line and go a bit further in the competition. But credit to the Thunder, they played well in that game, and we didn't have our best day."

Miracle Maxi

"Some of the shot making for the last part of the season was quite clinical, it feels like he's just a maverick but when he's playing like that there's a much more to it. He picks the area of the field he wants to hit the ball, and he has the ability to do it, and it was fantastic batting. Even in the Knockout game against the Thunder, if we had two or three more overs of Glenn at that point on that pitch, he could have turned the game.

"Against the Renegades, Glenn played probably the best innings I've ever seen live. I watched his unbelievable innings in the World Cup (against Afghanistan on TV). Glenn's a really deep thinker on the game and an interesting thinker, because he's slightly alternative in how he goes about it. But he's always thinking, like all the great players, they're thinking of solutions to problems, not the problem itself."

Breakout player

"I suppose it was the 'youngster' Peter Siddle – he'd be the breakout guy who was meant to debut for the Stars 13 years ago and didn't play, then came in as the new youngster at 40. He was like the fire starter, and he was one of the guys that helped keep us together because he's a very calm bloke, passionate about playing, but was playing the game in the way you should play the game where every one might be his last and he's going to enjoy every moment of it.

"We saw his pace get right up because we know he looks after himself – his top ball was clocked at 148kph. But it wasn't just the pace, he bowled the tough overs, he bowled the front and back of the innings, he bowled the Power Surge, and he led the bowling attack."

New ball wickets

"When we got to the Heat (on January 1), we knew we weren't getting early wickets and we knew we had to find a way. We'd had a big meeting after the Thunder game – obviously were in a tough situation but we could still qualify, and we had a very open chat.

"We changed the team around a little bit – Mark Steketee and Joel Paris came in, two experienced players, both known to be effective with the new ball and to get movement, so we went down that route and it worked really well.

"I don't think Mark could have dreamt that it was going to quite so well as he did, he bowled beautifully, but he got movement all the time, and that made a massive difference because it set the rest of the innings up and with Usama Mir coming on straight after Powerplay, that meant we could keep much more pressure on the batting side."

Looking ahead to BBL|15

Starting fast

"We've had two seasons in a row where we haven't started as well as we wanted. To start well, often it comes down to experienced players and a consistent roster that comes back the following year, so people know where they're at. We'll have enough of that core group together – we've obviously lost Joel Paris to the Scorchers, which is a shame, but we'll have enough consistency in that group to make sure the roles are clear in the hope we start the tournament well."

Building an MCG fortress

"My first season (at the Stars), we won four on the road and we couldn't win at home. This season we won at home, and we didn't win as much on the road. If we put those together, we're having a great season.

"It was a big one to win at the MCG for a couple of reasons. I don't think any team continually qualifies for finals year-on-year without winning their home games, so it's important to know how to win at your home ground.

"But also, we wanted to connect with the fans because we felt we hadn't given the Stars fans much to cheer about over the last few years and we wanted them to feel how much it mattered to the players, and I think that started to come across towards the end of the tournament. We saw Marcus (Stoinis) as captain, Glenn Maxwell and other players start to show a bit more emotion on the field, which is a good thing as the fans started to realise we were putting it on the line a bit, which is exactly what you've got to do in any sport you play."

Priority re-signings

"We were interested in quite a lot of those bigger players we thought would fit us really well and we certainly pushed hard for many of them, but we didn't get them over the line. It's a player's market in that respect; a player chooses whether he wants to move or not.

"Internally within our own squad we've seen some lads have tough seasons, but we also know that we've got growth in those players. When you watch Mitch Owen come from nowhere to suddenly rip up the Big Bash, that's the beauty of sport. There are players in our current list who we've got to re-sign yet, who could be that sort of player so we've got to respect what we've got and also keep an eye out for who else is available."

Squad gaps

"Getting runs at the top of the order is a big area for us to get more consistent. We've got a very strong middle-order in Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright, and Tom Curran is with us for another year. Though he got injured this year, he's a dangerous lower order hitter.

"Mitch (Swepson) is going to be fantastic for us, spin at the MCG always goes pretty well. He's a top-flight bowler and he'll be great for Hamish (McKenzie) as well as a young spinner.

"We know Peter (Siddle) is not going to go on forever and Liam (Hatcher) is a good bowler. He's got a bit frustrated by not playing as much as he can, but he's already shown his quality in the BBL. I like the way he plays, hits the deck, can get wickets up front and he'll fit us really well."

BBL|14 season reviews