Glenn Maxwell blasts Melbourne Stars after 0-3 start to BBL season

THE winless Melbourne Stars will lose Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa for the rest of the BBL season but will hold on to Glenn Maxwell, who was savage on the team and himself after their latest defeat.

Brendon McCullum ignited the Heat to a comfortable win over the Stars. Picture: AAP

MELBOURNE Stars will lose Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa for the second half of the Big Bash League season as Glenn Maxwell lashed their 0-3 start as “putrid”.

Zampa and Stoinis will play the next two matches with the Stars and then join Australia’s one-day squad in another roadblock to the team’s bid to keep alive its record of always reaching the semi-finals.

VIDEO: ‘NASTY’ BOUNCER KNOCKS HELMET OFF

ASHES: STARC TO PLAY SCG TEST

The Stars will hold on to Maxwell, James Faulkner and Pete Handscomb, who were overlooked for the ODI squad.

Handscomb will return from the Test squad to play in Saturday night’s must-win derby against Melbourne Renegades at the MCG.

One-day commitments are set to keep three drawcards — Stoinis and Zampa and Renegades captain Aaron Finch out of Friday week’s return derby at Etihad ­Stadium.

Maxwell, speaking after Brisbane Heat thrashed the Stars by nine wickets at the MCG on Tuesday, accused the Stars of not playing as a team and said they appeared headed ­towards the wooden spoon.

Glenn Maxwell top-scored with a half-century but he was even scathing of his own performance against the Heat. Picture: Getty Images

Asked what had gone wrong for the pre-tournament fancy, Maxwell paused for eight seconds and said: “I have no idea. I’ve got absolutely nothing.”

He then cut loose.

“The first game we didn’t bowl well enough and didn’t field well enough, (the) second game we didn’t bat with any brains whatsoever and this game it all fell apart,” he said.

“We have to turn it around, otherwise it’s going to unravel pretty quickly.”

The Stars have lost their past six matches, five of their past six at the MCG and their past five against the Heat.

But Maxwell said the expansion this season from eight matches to 10 for each team gave the Stars some hope of fighting back.

“Mathematically we could still finish top,” he said.

“But the way we’re going at the moment we’re not looking like going anywhere but bottom ... we’re playing terrible cricket. We’re not probably playing together as a team.

“We haven’t even got close to putting together a full game, which is what you need to do in T20 cricket.

“We were putrid today.”

John Hastings drops a catch against the Heat. Picture: AAP

Asked if the Heat was simply too good with the ball in restricting the Stars to 7-141, Maxwell said: “No. It was just putrid batting.”

Heat reached the target with 32 balls to spare.

Maxwell didn’t spare himself from criticism, labelling his half-century “frustrating and embarrassing”.

He top-scored with 50 off 39 balls and was the only batsman to give a yelp.

“It took me far too long to get going,” he said.

“I cost us plenty out there because I just couldn’t hit the ball.

“It was frustrating and pretty embarrassing, to tell you the truth, to spend that much time out in the middle and not even really contribute to the match.

“I’ll probably take responsibility for that batting performance. Normally your rock has to at least look like he’s hitting the ball well so that the non-striker feels comfortable while you’re at the crease.

“That’s not good enough. It’s as simple as that.”