Marcus Stoinis racing clock to be fit for Friday’s BBL season opener against Sydney Thunder

A FREAK volleyball accident during a warm-up left Melbourne Stars’ all-rounder Marcus Stoinis with a torn ligament in his ankle and he is racing the clock to be fit for Friday’s BBL season-opener against Sydney Thunder.

MARCUS Stoinis will test his injured ankle in the nets today, but the Melbourne Stars all-rounder is confident he’ll be passed fit to play in Friday’s Big Bash League season opener against Sydney Thunder.

Stoinis suffered a grade two tear in one of the ligaments in his ankle when he landed on a teammates’ foot during a Volleyball warm-up activity.

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Marcus Stoinis is racing to be fit for the Stars BBL season opener. Picture: Getty Images

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“I’m going to have a good bowl in the nets, we might even have a centre wicket so I’ll give it a good test out,” Stoinis said.

“I’m expecting to be all good. I’m walking around and jogging, running around pretty pain free so I can imagine just strapping it up and having a bowl and it being fine.

“ … we were playing a warm up game of Volleyball and I hit one of the great spikes in the back corner and landed on one of the boys’ foot.

“It wasn’t Volleyball’s fault, it was my fault for being too competitive. I don’t want to get rid of Volleyball and ruin the fun we have in our warm up.”

The Stars need the big-hitting Stoinis fit and firing as they seek redemption for last season’ failures. Picture: Getty Images

Stoinis, now a key part of the Australian one-day squad, signed a four-year deal with the Stars in October, after shunning interest from several other teams.

The big-hitter said at the time he had “unfinished business” with the Stars, after they won last season’s wooden spoon.

“We’re a young group, we’re a close group, we’re all different in our own right but I think we’re really close to something special,” Stoinis said.