Batting woes leave Melbourne Stars in a spin
Having qualified for the finals with ease the Stars reliance on Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell has been exposed
Alex Malcolm
04-Feb-2020
Glenn Maxwell walks off after his dismissal • Getty Images and Cricket Australia
There was a sense of doom and déjà vu at the MCG last Friday night.
The Melbourne Stars folded in their chase against the Sydney Sixers to hand over a home final and evoke memories of last year's collapse against the Melbourne Renegades when the title was within their grasp.
It would be easy and crude to label it another choke. There are no guarantees in T20 cricket. But there's a dichotomy to the Stars that is hard to ignore. They have done so much right to put themselves in this position, with a chance to finally break their title drought.
Coach David Hussey said he would ask the hard questions of his players in the aftermath of the loss to the Sixers, in an effort to fix their execution and decision-making under pressure.
But no amount of hard questions will fix the dilemma, which is that their bowling has been so good because of the resources at their disposal, while their batting has been well below par because of a lack of them.
Bowling options galore
The Stars did not win 10 of 11 games by accident. Their bowling has been exceptional. The BBL is normally dominated by the best attacks and the Stars have invested in their resources recruiting bowlers in their two overseas slots as well an established international quick in Nathan Coulter-Nile. Haris Rauf has been the find of the season but spin has been one of their secret weapons.
The Stars spinners have taken 50 wickets this season, with no other side capturing more than 29, and have the lowest combined average in the league and the third-lowest combined economy rate. They have bowled 38 more overs of spin in the BBL than the Hobart Hurricanes, who sit second on the list. Their spinners have bowled more than half the overs in seven of the 15 matches, including more than 14 overs in two games.
The Stars' list was not necessarily designed to make spin a feature but rather have every potential match-up option available at Maxwell's disposal. They recruited Coulter-Nile and overseas signing, Dale Steyn, to add speed to an attack that was light on for extra pace last season. They couldn't believe their luck in finding Rauf when Steyn and his replacement, England's Pat Brown, both suffered injuries.
The qualifier against the Sixers was a great example of how Maxwell isn't beholden to spin. Unlike most sides, the Sixers top four of Josh Philippe, James Vince, Steve Smith, and Moises Henriques have good records against spin, whereas their middle order of Daniel Hughes and Jordan Silk do not.
Maxwell only used eight overs of spin in total, keeping it away from Henriques in particular in the middle overs, and calling in Marcus Stoinis to supplement his quicks.
The plan may change for Sydney Thunder on Thursday with spin more likely to be the better option to the in-form Alex Hales, Usman Khawaja, and Callum Ferguson, while the pace of Rauf will surely be held back for Alex Ross.
But the bowling resources and match-ups are not their concern.
Revolving door at the top
While the Stars have built a bowling attack that is the envy of the league, their batting is their biggest problem. The heavy reliance on Stoinis and Maxwell is well known. The pair have claimed nine Player of the Match awards between them in the past two seasons out of 17 awarded to Stars players. Peter Handscomb and Nick Larkin are the only other Stars batsmen to have won one.
Larkin's came this season in a win over the Sydney Thunder but it has been Stoinis and Maxwell who have carried the load again. It would be easy to point fingers at the lack of output from the other Stars batsmen, but some questions need to be asked of how the top order has been shaped. The Stars have used 11 players in their top three in the last two seasons.
Only the Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades have used more. The Scorchers have missed finals in both seasons while the Renegades finished last this year. They did win the tournament last season but it came in miraculous circumstances with their batting group mustering just three half-centuries for the tournament.