Melbourne Stars

Melbourne Stars are one of the teams in Australia’s premier T20 competition – the Big Bash League (BBL). The franchise represents Melbourne in the league.

The Stars play their home matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest cricket stadium in the world. Currently, Glenn Maxwell is the captain of the side while Stephen Fleming is the head coach. Stars are one of the most consistent sides in the leagues but unfortunately they are yet to lift the trophy. In the first six seasons, they made it to the semifinal four times and final on one occasion.

History:

2011-12 season:

The Stars began their journey in the BBL under the captaincy of Cameron White. They started the season with a six-wicket loss to Sydney Thunders before bouncing back and beating Brisbane Heat in the following game. However, they lost the following games which put their season in danger. However, three consecutive wins put their season back on track as they made it to the semifinal. But they failed to make it to the final as they lost to Perth Scorchers.

2012-13 season:

For the second year in a row, the Stars made it to the semifinal.  The season started on a poor note for the Stars as they lost the opener by 8 wickets to city-rivals Melbourne Renegades. However, four wins on the trot put them very much in command. They went on to finish the season with 5 wins out of eight games and made it to the last-four. But their hopes of making it to the final was ended by Perth Scorchers.

2013-14 season:

The third season saw Melbourne Stars create history. The two-time semifinalists at that stage stormed into the semifinal by winning each and every game of the league stage. Every team that came their way suffered the same cruel fate. However, Stars once again failed to break their semifinal-jinx and ended up losing to Hobart Hurricanes. While they crushed every team in the league stage, they suffered the same fate in the semifinal, losing the game by seven wickets.

2014-15 season:

When the fourth season of the BBL began, it looked like the Stars’ streak of appearing in semifinal will come to an end.  They ended up on the losing side in the first three games of the season.  They then thrashed Melbourne Renegades by 112 runs to get their campaign back on track. The Stars then went on to win the remaining four games to storm into the last four. However, they once again suffered a heartbreaking loss in the semifinal, losing to eventual winners Perth Scorchers by 18 runs.

2015-16 season:

The Stars once again made a poor start to the season. They lost the first two games of the season to Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Strikers. However, they once again bounced back in style and won the next four games to bring their season back on track. They ended the league stage at second position with five wins in 8 games. In the semifinal, they beat defending champions Perth Scorchers to enter the final after losing in semifinal in the previous four seasons. But their dreams of lifting the trophy was ended by Sydney Thunder.

2016-17:

Melbourne Stars did not show enough consistency in the sixth season but managed to win four games to advance to the semifinal for the sixth season in a row. They ended the league stage at the fourth position after registering 4 wins in 8 games. But their old knack of losing in the semifinal once again came back to haunt them as they lost to Perth Scorchers.

2017-18:

The last edition of the BBL was Stars’ worst-ever season in the competition so far.  By the time the competition reached its mid-stage, the Stars were very much out of contention to progress to the next stage. They lost their first five games and eventually ended up with just two wins in ten games to finish at the bottom of the ladder.

Here are some other details about the team:

Most runs:

 

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave
LJ Wright	2011-2018	57	57	6	1479	117	29
KP Pietersen	2014-2018	33	33	3	1110	76	37
GJ Maxwell	2012-2018	37	35	5	973	84	32.43
DJ Hussey	2011-2017	48	41	9	855	52	26.71
RJ Quiney	2011-2018	39	36	3	793	97	24.03
CL White	2011-2015	34	33	2	615	88	19.83
BJ Hodge	2012-2014	18	15	2	561	88	43.15
JP Faulkner	2011-2018	45	36	17	531	47*	27.94
MP Stoinis	2013-2018	28	26	5	493	99	23.47
PSP Handscomb	2012-2018	30	26	11	453	103*	30.2
MS Wade	2011-2014	16	14	4	287	53*	28.7
EP Gulbis	2016-2018	16	12	5	205	61*	29.28
JW Hastings	2012-2018	38	23	8	190	22	12.66
SE Gotch	2017-2018	8	8	0	151	48	18.87
BR Dunk	2017-2018	10	10	0	115	47	11.5
GJ Bailey	2011-2012	8	7	1	114	33	19
TIF Triffitt	2014-2015	10	9	5	91	25*	22.75
AC Voges	2011-2012	6	5	0	79	31	15.8
BW Hilfenhaus	2015-2017	17	10	3	57	32*	8.14
DJ Worrall	2014-2018	13	6	3	48	16	16
CJ McKay	2011-2015	23	9	6	41	14*	13.66
A Zampa	2015-2018	20	10	3	40	15	5.71
SM Boland	2014-2018	25	10	7	28	8*	9.33
MA Beer	2014-2018	32	6	6	13	7*	–
AR Keath	2013-2015	4	2	0	10	6	5
SB Harper	2016-2017	5	4	0	10	5	2.5
CP Simpson	2011-2012	3	1	1	8	8*	–
SO Henry	2012-2012	1	1	0	6	6	6
JM Muirhead	2014-2014	4	2	1	6	6	6
Mohammad Hafeez	2014-2014	1	1	0	4	4	4
SL Malinga	2012-2014	13	3	2	4	2*	4
JM Bird	2012-2015	24	3	1	3	3	1.5
AD Mascarenhas	2013-2013	2	1	0	1	1	1
CA Rose	2012-2014	4	3	1	1	1*	0.5
SK Warne	2011-2013	15	1	1	0	0*	–

 

Most wickets:

 

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Econ
JW Hastings	2012-2018	38	38	134.5	1	1062	50	1/6
JP Faulkner	2011-2018	45	45	137.4	3	1052	44	7.64
SM Boland	2014-2018	25	25	90.1	0	764	31	1/7
JM Bird	2012-2015	24	24	87.3	2	626	28	7.15
CJ McKay	2011-2015	23	23	81.4	1	655	24	1/7
BW Hilfenhaus	2015-2017	17	17	56	0	457	22	1/7
MA Beer	2014-2018	32	32	111.3	0	752	22	6.74
MP Stoinis	2013-2018	28	22	54	0	459	19	1/7
A Zampa	2015-2018	20	20	74.4	0	530	19	1/6
SL Malinga	2012-2014	13	13	50	2	270	18	1/4
DJ Hussey	2011-2017	48	15	32	0	240	12	1/6
GJ Maxwell	2012-2018	37	21	42	0	327	12	1/6
DJ Worrall	2014-2018	13	13	46.3	0	416	12	1/7
SK Warne	2011-2013	15	14	47	0	341	11	1/6
EP Gulbis	2016-2018	16	16	36	0	282	8	1/6
L Bowe	2017-2018	6	6	19	0	171	6	9
LJ Wright	2011-2018	57	15	27.2	0	243	6	1/7
JR Coleman	2018-2018	6	6	15.2	0	111	5	1/6
CL White	2011-2015	34	3	6	0	47	2	1/6
AD Mascarenhas	2013-2013	2	2	7	0	54	2	1/6
JM Muirhead	2014-2014	4	4	11	0	68	2	1/5
BR Dunk	2017-2018	10	1	2	0	19	1	1/8
CP Simpson	2011-2012	3	1	3	0	25	1	1/7
JW Dernbach	2011-2011	2	2	8	0	80	1	10
CA Rose	2012-2014	4	4	12	0	121	1	1/9
KP Pietersen	2014-2018	33	2	2	0	20	0	10
Mohammad Hafeez	2014-2014	1	1	3	0	22	0	7.33
CJ Gannon	2017-2017	1	1	2	0	26	0	13
AR Keath	2013-2015	4	1	1	0	27	0	27
D Fallins	2018-2018	2	2	5	0	44	0	8.8

 

Most dismissals as wicketkeeper:

 

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Dismissals	Catches	Stumping
PSP Handscomb	2012-2018	30	26	22	16	6
MS Wade	2011-2014	16	16	14	12	2
TIF Triffitt	2014-2015	10	10	10	10	0
SB Harper	2016-2017	5	4	3	2	1
RJ Quiney	2011-2018	39	3	2	2	0
BR Dunk	2017-2018	10	2	1	1	0
SE Gotch	2017-2018	8	3	0	0	0

 

Current squad:

 

Michael Beer

Jackson Bird

Scott Boland

Liam Bowe

Dwayne Bravo (OS)

Jackson Coleman

Travis Dean

Ben Dunk

Sebastian Gotch

Evan Gulbis

Peter Handscomb

Sandeep Lamichhane (OS)

Nic Maddison

Glenn Maxwell

Jonathan Merlo

Liam Plunkett (late season replacement for Lamichhane)

Marcus Stoinis

Daniel Worrall

Adam Zampa

 

*Stats and squad updated before the start of BBL 2018-19