Melbourne Stars dynamo Marcus Stoinis thinks his team could still win the Big Bash

Ravaged by Covid and injury the superstar line-up at the Melbourne Stars are coming together just in time for a finals push

Marcus Stoinis thinks the Melbourne Stars can still win the Big Bash (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

World Cup winning Melbourne Stars batsman Marcus Stoinis is daring to dream about his team winning a fairytale championship against the odds after a season full of turmoil.

Despite being one of the sides hardest hit by Covid this summer, along with the Brisbane Heat, the Stars’ finals hopes are still alive after they won their cutthroat match with the Heat on Sunday night.

In order to finish in the top five, the sixth-placed Stars need the Adelaide Strikers and/or Hobart Hurricanes to lose their next match and then beat Hobart in their final game.

But after countless near-misses during the 11-year history of the Big Bash League, including three final losses and five semi-final defeats, Stoinis was enamoured with the idea of the Stars “pinching” their first title without anyone expecting it.

“Sport’s a funny thing and these things seem to happen and these good stories happen where who knows? We might win something here,” Stoinis said.

“Everyone’s saying we haven’t won a premiership forever, and this could be our year. Imagine that. So that would be pretty funny.

“That’s the beauty of sport - how many times these stories get told of teams winning from nowhere and that sort of stuff so that might be us this year.”

After a wretched period earlier this month which saw 13 squad members unavailable, 11 due to Covid and needing to isolate in their hotel rooms for seven days, some Stars players, including key men Adam Zampa and Hilton Cartwright, contemplated pulling out of the tournament altogether.

As late as last week, Zampa said the group was still feeling “flat”, however Stoinis said that the fun was starting to come back for them following their win against the Heat.

“We need to have fun out there because there’s not much else to do for us at the moment,” he laughed.

Marcus Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright celebrate the Stars win on Sunday (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

Glenn Maxwell certainly boosted the Stars’ spirits when he took one of the catches of the season on Sunday night, but when asked if it was one of the best he had ever seen, Stoinis was quick to bring his captain down to earth.

“It was brilliant ... (but) I think if you can find some highlights of some of Hilton Cartwright’s as well I think they rival him, so we stir ‘Maxi’ that he’s not only the second best (fielder) in the world, he’s the second best in our team,” Stoinis said.

And as for when he expected Maxwell to stop talking about the spectacular grab, Stoinis said: “Probably until he takes the next one, next game I reckon, so we’ve got three days.”

Glenn Maxwell took a stunning catch at the MCG on Sunday night (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)

After Covid also “ripped the heart out” of his team, Brisbane captain Jimmy Peirson felt “everything was an uphill battle” this summer and he was left to contemplate what might have been now that his side was out of finals contention.

“We had three games where we were missing players right at some crunch times,” he said.

“Wrong time to miss some of our best players and that’s the way it went.

“When you’re putting out a side where you’re scratching for players and you’re playing against a strong Renegades side for example ... it is hard, it is hard.

“You hope for a miracle and an upset but it wasn’t to be so it takes the wind out of your sails.”

If the impact of Covid was to be felt again next season, Peirson suggested each team would probably require bigger squads to avoid the situation the Stars and Heat have found themselves in.

Originally published as Melbourne Stars dynamo Marcus Stoinis thinks his team could still win the Big Bash