Tag: 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:

Most wickets:

Most dismissals as wicketkeeper:

Current squad:

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