Bash Brothers Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum consign Melbourne Stars to third straight loss

IT’S not easy being green - just ask the Melbourne Stars, who were pummelled by the Brisbane Heat’s ‘Bash Brothers’ as the home side’s miserable start to BBL07 continued.

THE BASH Brothers hit town with their bats swinging.

And they mugged the Melbourne Stars so badly that they were barely recognisable as a team aspiring for finals. Captain Brendon McCullum named his bat Winx and always looked a winner, striking 61 (30) to guide Brisbane Heat to a nine-wicket victory in just 14.4 overs. RECAP THE GAME IN OUR BLOG COVERAGE BELOW The Stars will wake up dazed and confused. They are 0-3 with their perfect run of reaching the semi-finals likely to expire. It is the Stars’ equal-worst start to a season. Last time they rebounded with a 112-run win in the Melbourne derby to launch a five-game winning run. Just like in BBL04, their next assignment at 0-3 is against the Renegades. But this season looks markedly different and another loss in Saturday’s MCG derby will surely be lights out. When a proppy Chris Lynn scooped his third delivery to John Hastings the Stars had a flicker of life. But the new captain — nursing a sore skull after being smacked in the head by a Ben Cutting ball — fumbled a schoolboy catch. Hastings handled it like a drunken camper trying to throw a hot coal back on the fire and Brisbane’s six-machine survived and then thrived to smash the winning runs. After three matches Hastings has made five runs and recorded 1-95 off eight overs. That will sting the skipper. Perhaps the drop was a square-up. Brisbane’s butter-fingers put down Englishmen Luke Wright and Kevin Pietersen to slump to 15 dropped catches in their past 15 overs. Still, the Stars couldn’t capitalise. So who is in the gun? Recruit Ben Dunk signed as a two-time BBL leading run scorer. But after three digs in green he’s been slam-dunked for just 11 runs. Fellow opener Wright continues to be bamboozled by leg spin. In the BBL Wright has scored 34 runs from 51 deliveries of leg spin and been dismissed eight times. Bob Quiney’s dolly back to bowler Mitchell Swepson for a silver duck might lead to a sleepless night and Pietersen hit a Swepson ball straight down Brendan Doggett’s throat for a soft dismissal. It might well be KP’s last Big Bash in what could signal sweeping changes through an ageing line-up. That’s six consecutive losses as a franchise. That’s five consecutive losses to the Heat. And that’s five losses out of their past six matches at the MCG. Perhaps it is time to regenerate. Against the Heat they threw in bespectacled leg-spinner Liam Bowe, 20, and it might be time for young quick Jackson Coleman and emerging batsman Seb Gotch to join him. The Stars look stale, their spirit almost broken. Coach Stephen Fleming suggested last summer they needed change and then only Dunk was signed. “It’s not easy to change when you’ve got guys on lengthy contracts,” Fleming said on the cusp of this season. Swepson (3-14) won Shane Warne’s endorsement for a plane ticket to South Africa for the upcoming series and fellow spinner Yasir Shah (1-16) was as tight as piano wire with the new ball. In the first loss they failed with the ball, the second game with the bat and last night with both. Kermit the Frog said it best. Right now, it’s not easy being green. The Duke cops horror first ball to the helmet

Originally published as Bash Brothers Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum consign Melbourne Stars to third straight loss

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