Almanac Cricket – It ain’t easy being Green: A BBL Finals preview by a Melbourne Stars fan

 

You’re going to hear and read the word ‘choke’ a lot in every preview of the Big Bash League finals. I know this all too well because, over nine years ago, I decided to adopt the Melbourne Stars as my BBL team and I can verify that the ‘C’ word is bandied about when reporting on their performance on a near-annual basis.

 

When Cricket Australia announced that one of the new teams would be based at the MCG, I started following them on Twitter.  When they announced their first few players, I received a direct tweet attaching a picture of David Hussey holding a card saying “@josephryan79 you’re a star”!  Australian player, good pun, personalised message?  Ok, I’m in!

 

Now, I know that the target audience of the league is roughly 30 years younger than me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy following this side.  The Stars have been a fun team to watch. I have great memories of watching so many of these performances live at the ‘G’ – Handscomb smashing one hundred to overcome the Scorchers, Faulkner sending Brett Lee back over his head in a super over, and more.  Watching on TV, I have great memories of Lasith Malinga taking 6/7 in Perth, and Luke Wright belting them to all corners in Hobart.

 

This year has been no exception.  With a relaxed and happy attitude to the game, the Stars were playing carefree, enjoyable cricket and getting amazing results.  The Renegades should have beaten the Stars in the second derby at Docklands, but from nowhere we saw one of the cleanest displays of hitting by Glenn Maxwell, depositing seven sixes to various parts of the stadium to pull a win from the jaws of defeat. I thought it was one of the best innings I was ever going to see but then, only two days later at the MCG, Marcus Stoinis hit the highest individual BBL total of all time, 147, contributing to the highest ever team total, 220.  It was a sublime innings!

 

This attitude of fun and enjoyment was adopted by former coach Stephen Fleming and appears to have been carried on by new coach David Hussey.  It makes sense – if you spend time getting annoyed at a bad moment in T20 cricket the whole game may pass you by.  With a relaxed, carefree attitude you can take a few risks too, when they are needed.  It also helps repel the pressure that the media and expectant, hopeful fans like me are placing on them.  When the team is relaxed, they seem to be at their best, as demonstrated with 10 wins for the season in BBL09.  After mental health breaks last year, Glenn Maxwell and Nic Maddinson are back on field, smiling, and seem to be loving every minute.

 

But back to that word ‘choke’.  Yeah, the Stars have been a good team in the regular season, qualifying for semi-finals in all bar one season, but their finals effort has been, well, less than ideal.  In Season 2, in Perth, a wet ball, a sneaky change of captain to avoid a suspension for Shane Warne, and a no ball based on fielding restrictions, conspired to hand the game to Perth.  Then, the following season, after an unbeaten regular season, we failed to even make the final after a limp semi-final loss to the Hurricanes.  The year that we actually won a semi-final, we ran into the Sydney Thunder on their one good year and a rampant Usman Khawaja, who hit 100 in the final to take the title.  A history of these upsets meant reporters and social media pundits were beginning to label the Stars as a nervous side who couldn’t handle pressure.

 

Then there’s last year.  I went to Docklands for the final and halfway through I was preparing to celebrate. Cue 7/19 off 30 and the game was lost.  Enough has been written about that day, so I won’t go into detail lest I trigger nightmares for anyone.  I have clear memories of Dunk and Maxwell hitting catching practice to outfielders but, perhaps most haunting, was the roar from the Renegades fans when, with 3 balls to go, the required score was more than six runs a ball.  I wanted to defend the boys, but there was no way to sugarcoat it.  I heard this match described by a Stars player early this season as “Oh, yeah, we had a bad 40 minutes that day”.  This is the ultimate example of “understatement”!

 

So, I’m preparing to head along to the MCG on Friday for the ‘Qualifier’ against the Sydney Sixers.  How are the Stars going to go this week as they try to correct this abysmal finals record?  (That is the point of a preview after all, to actually look forward and have a guess what’s going to happen, right?)  Well, the glorious thing is that I have absolutely no idea.  In-season form has been absolutely no guide to finals form over most of the history of the Big Bash, with the top team falling over on a regular basis, only going on to win the title on one out of eight occasions!

 

Arguably this year, there’s a strong case that the Stars, the team that won 9 straight games and is hosting the qualifier final, is actually the underdog!  Does that take the pressure down?  The three losses to close the season may be a sign of a side that took the foot off the accelerator knowing they had crossed the finish line, after guaranteeing their finals spot with three games to go. But, the loss of winning form is possibly reason for concern. Other factors also suggest the Stars might have reason to be worried – the batting has been shaky for the last few games, and now player losses are taking a toll.  Losing Lamichhane (due to an unexpected international commitment) and Cartwright (injury) at this stage of the season hurts.

 

On the other hand, the Sydney Sixers have been building steadily over the course of the season.  Keeper-opener Josh Phillippe has found form, Vince has been playing very well, and skipper Moises Henriques is playing like he’s inspired (having recently become a Dad, perhaps he is inspired!).  They also have a couple of very handy inclusions in Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood.  Heard of them before?  While they haven’t played a lot of BBL recently, they are obviously amongst the best cricketers on the planet and can be expected to have an impact.

 

My tip is that the return of one key player will make a big difference.  A mate attended the early season match at Moe and told me to keep an eye out for the Stars replacement bowler who, to the naked eye, was bowling faster than Shahid Afridi (or even the guy he replaced in the squad, the legendary Dale Steyn).  When I got to see this man – Haris Rauf – bowl for the first time I was thoroughly impressed.  His pace, movement, and (entertainingly) his celebrations captured the eye, and the joy he has when playing the game is contagious.  This is one of the things I love about the BBL – it’s identified some amazing new talent that may not have otherwise come to light.  While established players such as Gayle and De Villiers have come to Australia with much hype, and generally failed to deliver, a number of lesser names, particularly from emerging cricket nations, have been able to thrive and establish themselves through this competition (and other T20 leagues around the world).

 

So I can only hope that attitude of ‘fun’ and enjoyment that the Stars started the season with, reflected so well by Haris Rauf, is back for the finals.  For the first time, the BBL has a ‘double chance’ final, giving the top two teams a second bite of the cherry after a loss in the first final.  So, the pressure of elimination is gone in the first instance.  Of course, whoever loses this game is likely to cop a meeting with a very strong Adelaide Strikers side, and then the pressure might be back on. But we can deal with that later!

 

So whatever happens, it’s been a great season with some really memorable moments.  I’m sticking by the Stars, spearheaded by some top notch bowling from Rauf, in Friday night’s game.  But you know what would really be memorable?  Holding up the cup at the MCG next Saturday. Until then though, let’s have some fun…!

 

@josephryan79

 

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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