Melbourne Stars vs Hobart Hurricanes Knockout preview, Stars haunted by being chokers, Big Bash finals, Peter Siddle, Marcus Stoinis, video, highlights

The Melbourne Stars’ title drought eats away at Glenn Maxwell.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t lost hours of sleep thinking about it,” he told the Surge Podcast last week.

The Stars, one of the Big Bash League’s marquee clubs, have qualified for the knockouts on 10 occasions across the competition’s 15-year history, including two minor premierships and three grand final appearances.

The team’s alumni include some of the sport’s modern greats – Shane Warne, Lasith Malinga and Kevin Pietersen, to name a few – along with World Cup champions Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa and Maxwell.

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Yet, the Stars are the only franchise to have never won a BBL trophy. The Melbourne-based club has won just three of their 13 finals matches, a woeful success rate of 23 per cent.

And the next chapter of the club’s finals journey commences on Wednesday evening, facing reigning champions the Hobart Hurricanes in a must-win Knockout at Bellerive Oval.

Maxwell, who has played 122 matches for the Stars since his debut in 2012, is desperate to break the drought.

“This has been such a huge part of my career, playing at the Stars, the people that have been involved with the franchise, the impact that it’s had on my career,” he said.

“They’ve given me so much, this team, and fans have been right there the whole way through every high and low.

“I just feel like it’d be so great to be able to give them something back, and to be a part of that would be incredible.”

‘THEY’RE JUST CHOKERS’: GOLDEN RUN BEFORE 2019 DISASTER

When the Big Bash League was in its infancy, the Stars were the competition’s powerhouse club, with coach Greg Shipperd and captain Cameron White leading the charge. The men in green dominated the first five editions of the BBL, going through the entire 2013/24 regular season undefeated.

In 2012, Malinga claimed record-breaking figures of 6-7 against the Perth Scorchers at the WACA, while Warne created headlines by predicting his dismissal of Brisbane Heat opener Brendon McCullum while mic’d up on Fox Sports.

The Stars were blockbuster viewing, with 80,883 fans attending a Melbourne derby against their cross-town rivals at the MCG during BBL|05.

But the club had a worrying habit of tripping up in the knockouts, losing each of their four semi-final contests from 2012-2015. Their maiden appearance at a tournament decider also ended in defeat, with Michael Hussey’s Sydney Thunder toppling them by three wickets at the MCG in 2016, albeit aided by some dubious umpiring.

“They’ve consistently been one of the best teams for a long time,” former Test opener Usman Khawaja told cricket.com.au in 2021.

“They just can’t jump over that hurdle.”

The Stars earned another chance to secure a maiden BBL title during the 2019 final, facing the Renegades in front of a packed crowd at Docklands Stadium.

Chasing a modest target of 146 for victory, Maxwell’s men were seemingly cruising at 0-93 in the 13th over before losing 7-19 in a disastrous collapse, ultimately falling 13 runs short. In unforgettable scenes, the trophy slipped from their grasp.

“That’s a choke,” Warne declared on Fox Cricket commentary after the match.

“53 runs (needed) off 43 balls with 10 wickets in hand. You should win them 96 times out of 100.“

Having once again tripped at the last hurdle, the Stars dusted themselves off and bounced back the following summer, winning ten of their first 11 matches to top the standings, but the club lost a rain-affected final against the Sydney Sixers at the SCG, with weather reducing the contest to a frantic 12-over shootout.

Once again, despite dominating the competition, the Stars couldn’t finish the job.

“They are not handling the pressure of a final,” Warne said after the 2020 final.

“It has been ordinary cricket and they haven’t handled the pressure again in a final.”

Nine years, eight finals appearances, no titles. The Stars, it appeared, were cursed.

“The Stars curse feels real,” leg-spinner Zampa confessed in 2021.

“It plays on my mind a little bit.”

Hurricanes speedster Riley Meredith added: “I don’t think the curse is real. They’re just chokers.”

Stars’ BBL Season Results

BBL|01 – Semi-finals

BBL|02 – Semi-finals

BBL|03 – Semi-finals

BBL|04 – Semi-finals

BBL|05 – Runners-up

BBL|06 – Semi-finals

BBL|07 – 8th

BBL|08 – Runners-up

BBL|09 – Runners-up

BBL|10 – 7th

BBL|11 – 6th

BBL|12 – 8th

BBL|13 – 8th

BBL|14 – Knockout

BBL ‘FAIRYTALE’ ALIVE AFTER DRAMATIC TURNAROUND

The Stars struggled for consistency following the Covid-19 pandemic, failing to qualify for the knockouts in four consecutive seasons from 2021-2024, including a dreaded wooden spoon in 2023.

Seven players and eight support staff contracted Covid-19 at one stage during the 2021/22 season, forcing the Stars to field a starting XI packed with club cricketers for a farcical match against Scorchers at Junction Oval.

The club was in desperate need of rejuvenation. Former England mentor Peter Moores was appointed as head coach in 2023, with Stoinis taking over the captaincy shortly after, but the leadership shake-up didn’t immediately produce results, with the Stars losing each of their first five games of the 2024/25 season.

Another wooden spoon beckoned before, in a stunning turnaround, the Stars won their final five matches to sneak into the fourth on the standings, cementing their first finals appearance in five seasons. Despite losing the Knockout to David Warner’s Thunder, the team was on the right trajectory, with their momentum carrying through to this summer.

The Stars’ 2025/26 campaign got off to a flying start, comfortably winning their first four matches, including an eight-wicket triumph over reigning champions the Hurricanes in Melbourne.

For Maxwell, suddenly the dream was alive.

“I’d be lying if I hadn’t started to think of that fairytale and what it looks like,” he said.

“When we were 4-0, I was going to bed at night starting to let my mind drift forward to, ‘What if it is this year? What am I going to do?’”

OPENER’S BREAKOUT KNOCK AFTER ‘CROSSROADS’ MOMENT

The Stars’ third victory of the season, a seven-wicket win over the Sydney Sixers on Boxing Day, was headlined by an unbeaten century from wicketkeeper Sam Harper, his maiden hundred at Big Bash level.

Chasing a 145-target at the SCG, the opener’s 110 not out accounted for 76 per cent of the innings runs, with none of his teammates managing more than 14.

Having been unexpectedly traded from the Renegades in 2023, Harper contributed just 180 runs at 11.25 across the previous two summers with a modest strike rate of 110.42, putting his spot in the Stars’ starting XI in jeopardy. He later admitted to previously being overawed by the calibre of the team’s middle order.

“You’ve got these superstars behind you,” he explained.

“Then you think, ‘It could be better if I get out here.’

“You think the best thing for the team is to go hard in the Powerplay.”

Following a period of reflection during the off-season, Harper decided to stop fearing the repercussions of batting his own style and play to his strengths, specifically targeting the square boundaries.

Having also decided to limit foot movement at the crease, Harper’s been the club’s leading run-scorer with 371 at 61.83 this summer, sitting third in the competition’s overall tally behind Warner and the Scorchers’ Finn Allen.

“At the end of last season, he came to a bit of a crossroads personally,” Moores said of Harper, speaking to Fox Cricket.

“He came to a point where he had to decide what sort of player he was going to be and how he was going to play. He went away and did some thinking, decided he was going to trust in the way he played.

“He’s a cross-bat player, Sam Harper. He hits very well square, and I think he started to accept that’s the sort of player he is, and refined those skills. I think once a player starts to try and get themselves better rather than trying to be something else, they can move really fast, and he’s a great example of that.”

Most runs in BBL|15

433 – David Warner (ST)

430 – Finn Allen (PS)

371 – Sam Harper (MS)

334 – Aaron Hardie (PS)

324 – Matthew Renshaw (BH)

41YO VETERAN STILL ‘TICKING EVERY BOX’

The Stars’ recent success can be attributed in part to the unlikely pace trio of England’s Tom Curran, Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Victorian veteran Peter Siddle, who celebrates his 42nd birthday this year.

Comprising three of the competition’s five leading wicket-takers this season, the Stars’ pace bowlers have proven difficult to tame during the Powerplay and the Surge, rolling the Adelaide Strikers for 83 during last week’s low-scoring contest at MCG.

“They’ve connected really well as a group,” Moores said of the bowling attack.

“They set high expectations on each other and they’ve got a great camaraderie between them, so that’s really helped get the best out of each other.

“They’ve been fantastic as a group, so they’ve created real pressure by backing each other’s overs up. I’m so pleased for all of them.”

Rauf has been a fan favourite for nearly a decade, but Curran and Siddle were signed by the Stars ahead of the 2024/25 season, acquisitions that have quickly paid dividends. No Big Bash cricketer has taken more Power Surge wickets than Siddle, the competition’s oldest player, who retired from first-class cricket in March last year.

Equipped with a renewed fitness program, tailored by Stars strength-and-conditioning coach Joel Tratt, Siddle has defied age by exceeding the 140km/h barrier this summer, keeping his Big Bash career alive longer than most would have anticipated.

“Pete’s been brilliant,” Moores continued.

“He’s been really smart in how he’s trained, how he looks after himself, and he’s obviously very cricket intelligent now. He knows his body better than anybody, and he’s bowled the tough overs.”

Asked whether the Stars would consider offering Siddle another contract extension, Moores didn’t hesitate with his response.

“Of course,” he said.

“Pete’s done everything he’s needed to do … he’s ticking every box for me.

“I don’t see us looking anywhere else at the moment, the way Pete’s playing.”

Most wickets in BBL|15

18 – Haris Rauf (MS)

18 – Gurinder Sandhu (MR)

17 – Jack Edwards (SS)

16 – Peter Siddle (MS)

15 – Cooper Connolly (PS)

15 – Tom Curran (MS)

15 – Lloyd Pope (AS)

15 – Xavier Bartlett (BH)

The fast bowling cartel has received support from captain Stoinis, who has taken 14 wickets at 16.21 this season, making it his most prolific Big Bash campaign with the ball in seven years. He has also produced multiple clutch performances with the bat, notably his unbeaten 32 from 22 balls against the Strikers at Adelaide Oval.

Only once has a player accumulated more runs and wickets in a BBL season – Daniel Christian in 2020/21, when the regular season was 14 matches per team.

But according to Moores, Stoinis’ leadership has been just as impressive.

“He’s a very strong character, in that he stands up when the pressure’s on and he leads from the front,” Moores said.

“But there’s also another side to Marcus that I don’t know everybody sees all the time, certainly people on his team do, and that’s the caring side. He’s got his players back. He’ll put an arm around them when he needs to. He’ll certainly stand next to them if there’s any pressure coming on, and he’ll stand in front of them and try to protect them.

“He demands a lot from his players, but also makes sure that he’s got them when the pressure’s on. It’s a really good combination.”

‘FRUSTRATED’ BIG SHOW GOES MISSING

There’s been one glaring problem in the Stars’ middle order this season.

Maxwell, last summer’s player of the tournament, has only averaged 13.40 with the willow, reaching double figures twice across ten matches. Since thumping an unbeaten 39 against the Thunder in Canberra, the Big Show has posted scores of 1, 1, 1, 20* and 3, relegated to No. 7 in the batting order.

His fielding has also been far from its best, not a reassuring trend for Australian selectors with a T20 World Cup campaign on the horizon, potentially Maxwell’s last assignment in the national side.

“The only (Stars) player that’s not playing well is Maxwell, the most important player,” former Australian batter Mark Waugh told Fox Cricket.

“He’s hardly got past five balls in any innings. I’m not sure what’s going on, to be honest.

“He’s a little bit hot and cold at the best of times, and he could make us all silly and come out and smack 100 in the next game.

“But he’s dropped a few catches, hasn’t bowled a lot, so I’m not sure where he’s at. It’s a bit of a worry though, leading into the World Cup.”

However, Moores warned that Maxwell was still more than capable of blowing away the opposition during the finals. The 37-year-old boasts a phenomenal record against the Hurricanes, averaging 67.70 across 18 BBL matches at an eye-watering strike rate of 185.47.

“Anybody who writes off Maxwell is a brave person, I’d say,” Moores said.

“We all know what he’s done in the past and how well he’s played on big occasions.

“He’s frustrated, there’s no doubt about that. It’s frustrating when you’re not getting what you want.

“But he loves the game. He’s got such a strong passion to play. He’ll be hitting his balls, doing his work and ready to go, so the game normally pays you back if you do that.

“He’s an exciting player for us to have not fired yet, knowing that that’s still to come.”

Maxwell is a two-time World Cup winner, having also lifted the T20 World Cup in 2021, but there’s still one accolade missing from his impressive resume. With his four-year contract extension at the Stars about to expire, this week could be his final chance to win a BBL title.

“It’s something everybody’s aware of,” Moores said of the Stars’ title drought.

“For Glenn, it feels like a Big Bash title is something he’d like to be on his CV, for someone who’s committed so much to the Stars over the years.”

TOUGH ROAD AHEAD AFTER PERTH STUMBLE

Despite their blistering start to the 2025/26 season, the Stars began the calendar year with three consecutive defeats against the Heat, Renegades and Sixers, while last week’s six-wicket loss to Scorchers ensured they finished fourth on the standings.

“We had our chance,” Moores said.

“We got it down to the big game against Perth a couple of days ago, and we didn’t quite have our day … we lost two or three early wickets, which hurt us, so that was our chance.

“We’d love to be in the top two, but we’ll happily have a go at Hobart.”

Having missed out on a top-two finish, the Stars now need to win three straight matches on the road to secure a maiden title, by no means an easy feat. Although the odds are against them, the Big Bash League’s perennial underperformers remain confident.

“We feel better equipped this year than we did last to go on a bit of a run to try and get to the final,” Moores added.

The Stars will face the Hurricanes for the Knockout at Bellerive Oval on Wednesday, with the first ball scheduled for 7.15pm AEDT.