Melbourne Stars hope to be a force in BBL08 after ‘challenging’ off-season
After a run of Big Bash Finals appearances the Melbourne Stars were the flops of last summer. But after some off-season tweaks, coach Stephen Fleming believes his men in green can thrive again. SQUAD PROFILES + FIXTURE
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Stephen Fleming doesn’t mince his words.
“We got beaten up a little bit last year,” the Melbourne Stars coach said.
The green team reached the semi-finals in the first six Big Bash seasons, albeit failing to win a title, and then crashed to last season’s wooden spoon with a 2-8 record.
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So, what went wrong?
“Where do I start?” Fleming said.
“Continuity just caught up with us a little bit. We might’ve been a little bit slow in rejuvenating the side and just looking at the length of contracts and the cycle of players we had on contract.
“We became a little bit predictable. It’s been challenging – I won’t lie.”
In short, the Stars became stale after making minimal list changes in four seasons.
Ten of the players Fleming selected for his first match as coach in 2015 were regulars last year.
The exception, retired captain David Hussey, was the batting coach.
And so the belated rejuvenation began.
Foundation batsman Luke Wright was delisted midseason, superstar Kevin Pietersen and popular big-hitter Bob Quiney retired and James Faulkner and captain John Hastings were released from their contracts early.
Suddenly, there is no larger-than-life figure dominating headlines.
Shane Warne was the franchise face for the first two seasons, Michael Clarke was then signed as captain, although never played a game, and KP has been the drawcard since 2014.
But Fleming said there was still plenty of cache.
“Glenn Maxwell will always attract a big following, Marcus Stoinis is pleasant on the eye and so he’s going to be a crowd favourite and he’s playing very well,” Fleming said.
“(Pete) Handscomb and (Adam) Zampa and (Ben) Dunk are also good players with a good profile.
“But you’re right, there’s a much more detailed plan around how we want to use the players. That gives us a bit more consistency and also an opportunity to push for a title.
“That’s (a title) one thing that’s certainly missing.”
With Wright and Pietersen gone, the Stars targeted an overseas mystery spinner
They thought they had another Englishman in Adil Rashid and when that fell through they zeroed in on 18-year-old Nepalese legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane.
“There’s certainly been some shifts in the game T20-wise in the three or four years and maybe we were a little bit slow to react,” Fleming said.
“Wrist spin has been huge throughout the world and we’ve made no secret that with Adam Zampa we wanted to try two quality legspinners.”
Ricky Ponting coached Lamichhane in the Indian Premier League this year and Fleming coached against the teenager when he made his Delhi Daredevils debut.
“He’s got some spunk,” Fleming said.
“He was very confident and very self-assured, which for a young guy playing in a big stadium in the IPL, was an interesting sign for me.”
Michael Clarke has also worked closely with the teenager in Sydney and Fleming said the MCG – with its large square boundaries – suited his trajectory.
“The other thing is not many players have seen him, so when you do introduce a player like Rashid Khan (Strikers) or Mujeeb (Heat) there’s an element of the unknown,” Fleming said.
And then there is Dwayne Bravo, the singing and dancing all-rounder nabbed from the Renegades.
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Bravo – who captained the Gades in last year’s Marvel Stadium derby – is world cricket’s No.1 T20 wicket-taker and Fleming lauded his leadership.
“He’s a little bit polarising on the field – if you play with him then you love him, if you play against him then he can get under the skin,” Fleming said.
“His form in the T10 (tournament) was sensational. He lost a little bit of velocity through injury with his bowling earlier but from what I saw in the last two weeks in Dubai I’m very confident.”
With Faulkner now at the Hurricanes, Fleming said fringe all-rounder Evan Gulbis “has done everything we’ve asked in a back-up role, so he gets an opportunity to show his power”.
Last year the megastar batsmen continually failed,often lacking a balance between aggression and batsmanship.
Opener Ben Dunk’s first season of a five-year deal netted just 115 runs at an average of 11.5 and fellow opener Wright and No.3 Pietersen are now gone.
The Stars were expected to play Dunk, Travis Dean, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in an explosive top five … until Maddinson – the No.1 batting target – broke his arm on Sunday.
“Dean and Dunk are certainly in contention (to open) and there’s the option of Stoinis as well if we want a bit more aggression at the top,” Fleming said.
“But (Maddinson’s injury) has put a bit of a strain on those plans already.”
Slow bowler Michael Beer, who regularly sent down the first over, was dropped last summer and Fleming said conditions would impact his selection.
“He’s got a challenge,” Fleming said.
“Certainly he’s by no means out of contention for a starting spot first-up.”
Can the Stars go from zero to hero, similar to Sydney Thunder’s triumph three years ago?
“It looks like we’re miles away,” Fleming said.
“But in T20 it can only be a small margin. A few times we felt we weren’t that far away but it was just a brutal season.”
MELBOURNE STARS SQUAD
BATSMEN
28. Travis Dean
Age: 26
Batsman
BBL matches: Yet to debut
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
Nic Maddinson (injured)
Age: 26:
BBL matches: 56
Battling style: Left-hand
Bowling style: Left-arm orthodox
Runs: 1349
High score: 85
Strike rate: 133.3
Wickets: 0
Economy: 11.50
32. Glenn Maxwell
Age: 29
BBL matches: 43
Battlng style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin
Runs: 1097
High score: 84
Strike rate: 153.6
Wickets: 13
Best bowling: 3-26
Economy: 7.67
ALL-ROUNDERS
47. Dwayne Bravo (West Indies)
Age: 35
BBL matches: 31
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm medium fast
Runs: 532
High score: 59*
Strike rate: 137.8
Wickets: 34
Best bowling: 5-28
Economy: 8.14
Country: West Indies
4. Evan Gulbis
Age: 32
BBL matches: 32
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
Runs: 320
High score: 61*
Strike rate: 123.6
Wickets: 18
Best bowling: 3-29
Economy: 8.47
12. Jonathan Merlo
Age: 19
BBL matches: Yet to debut
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm fast
16. Marcus Stoinis
Age: 28
BBL matches: 31
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
Runs: 503
High score: 99
Strike rate: 119.2
Wickets: 19
Best bowling: 3-11
Economy: 8.50
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KEEPERS
51. Ben Dunk
Age: 31
Wicketkeeper
BBL matches: 51
Batting style: Left-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin
Runs: 1221
High score: 96
Strike rate: 131.4
Wickets: 2
Best bowling: 1-19
Economy: 10.00
13. Seb Gotch (injured)
Age: 25
Batsman/wicketkeeper
BBL matches: 8
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Does not bowl
Runs: 151
High score: 48
Strike rate: 104.1
54. Pete Handscomb (Test team)
Age: 28
Wicketkeeper
BBL matches: 30
Batting style: Right-hand
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin
Runs: 453
High score: 103*
Strike rate: 115.6
BOWLERS
19. Michael Beer
Age: 34
BBL matches: 55
Bowling style: Left-arm orthodox
Batting style: Right-hand
Wickets: 41
Best bowling: 3-32
Economy: 6.56
Runs: 26
High score: 7*
Strike rate: 74.3
22. Jackson Bird
Age: 32
BBL matches: 38
Bowling style: Right-arm fast medium
Batting style: Right-hand
Wickets: 33
Best bowling: 4-31
Economy: 7.64
Runs:24
High score: 14*
Strike rate: 70.6
25. Scott Boland
Age: 29
BBL matches: 25
Bowling style: Right-arm medium fast
Batting style: Right-hand
Wickets: 31
Best bowling: 4-30
Economy: 8.47
Runs: 28
High score: 8*
Strike rate: 103.7
23. Liam Bowe
Age: 21
BBL matches: 6
Bowling style: Left-arm leg-spin
Wickets: 6
Best bowling: 2-30
Economy: 9.00
Batting style: Left-hand
9. Jackson Coleman
Age: 26
BBL matches: 6
Bowling style: Left-arm medium fast
Wickets: 5
Best bowling: 3-27
Economy: 7.23
Batting style: Right-hand
1. Sandeep Lamichhane (Nepal)
Age: 18
BBL matches: Yet to debut
Bowling style: Right arm leg spin
Batting style: Right hand
Country: Nepal
17. Daniel Worrall (injured)
Age: 27
BBL matches: 13
Bowling style: Right-arm fast medium
Wickets: 12
Best bowling: 3-1
Economy: 8.94
Batting style: Right hand
Runs: 48
High score: 16
Strike rate: 126.3
63. Adam Zampa
Age: 26
BBL matches: 38
Bowling style: Right arm leg-spin
Wickets: 35
Best bowling: 3-19
Economy: 7.25
Batting style: Right hand
Runs: 73
High score: 15
Strike rate: 89.0
Liam Plunkett (England)*
Age: 33
Bowler
BBL matches: Yet to debut
Bowling style: Right arm fast
Batting style: Right hand
Country: England
*Plunkett will replace Lamichhane halfway through season, although Lamichhane will return from Bangladesh in February
MELBOURNE STARS FIXTURE
DATE OPPONENT TIME VENUE
Dec 21 Sydney Thunder 7.15pm Manuka Oval
Dec 24 Hobart Hurricanes 3.45pm Blundstone Arena
Dec 27 Sydney Sixers 7.15pm SCG
Jan 1 MELBOURNE RENEGADES 7.15pm MCG
Jan 5 Sydney Thunder 6.15pm Metricon Stadium
Jan 9 Perth Scorchers 7.15pm MCG
Jan 11 Adelaide Strikers 7pm Adelaide Oval
Jan 14 Hobart Hurricanes 7.15pm MCG
Jan 19 MELBOURNE RENEGADES 6.45pm Marvel Stadium
Jan 23 Adelaide Strikers 2.45pm Moe
Jan 27 Brisbane Heat 7.40pm MCG
Feb 3 Perth Scorchers 9.15pm Perth Stadium
Feb 8 Brisbane Heat 7.40pm Gabba
Feb 10 Sydney Sixers 2.45pm MCG
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