Sam Harper dominated with 84 not out off 51 balls and Glenn Maxwell recalled the feeling of ball on bat in a subdued innings of 20 not out off 17 balls, which included one massive six. He has not lost his ability and would have enjoyed the chance to spend time in the middle.
The crowd of 42,846 was not given the contest they hoped for as the Stars won the match by eight wickets with 25 balls remaining.
It keeps the Melbourne Stars in contention as they break a three-match losing sequence and makes life hard for the Renegades. Marcus Stoinis bowled well to take 3-33 and was on a hat-trick at one stage, while Harper is in great form having hit 356 runs at a strike rate of 159 for the tournament so far. He was man-of-the-match.
Tom Rogers bounced back with a fast 50 against Melbourne RenegadesCredit: Getty Images
But it was all over once Tom Rogers helped himself to 50 off 19 balls to start the Stars’ innings with an opening partnership of 84 with Harper.
“They outplayed us at the ’G so it was nice to get our fifth win,” Harper told Fox Cricket.
Most interesting were the comments from the Fox Cricket commentary box where former England captain Michael Vaughan made it clear how disappointed he was with the way the English hierarchy handled a nightclub incident involving Harry Brook in New Zealand before they arrived in Australia for The Ashes.
“So the England captain was able to go out the night before have a fracas with a bouncer then still play…that can’t be right … he should’ve been suspended for that game. Then you deal with it there and then,” Vaughan said.
“I had no problems with Noosa, but I do have a problem with Noosa on the back of them hiding something in New Zealand that they didn’t tell us about.”
Melbourne Stars veteran Peter Siddle said, “It was a good turnaround”, with the win pushing the team back into second spot on the BBL table.
It’s starting to heat up with three games remaining for the Renegades and two for the Stars.
There is still plenty of cricket left this summer, so keep tuning in. Can the Stars finally win the title?
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