Stoinis stands up to put Stars on top

The Melbourne Stars hope a home ground advantage will pave the way to a top-two finish as they look ahead to their final two KFC Big Bash regular season matches.

The Stars strolled to a seven-wicket win over the Perth Scorchers on Saturday night, shocking the record WACA crowd of 21,171 as they restricted the hosts to 7-134 before Kevin Peterson and Marcus Stoinis cruised home with 16 balls to spare.

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It elevated the Stars to the top of the table, with two MCG clashes ahead of them against the Heat (January 17) and the Sixers (January 21) as they pursue a home semi-final.

With all top four teams are separated only by net run rate, it’s an advantage that could prove extremely handy to last year’s runners up. 

“There’s no more travelling for us, which is good,” Marcus Stoinis told bigbash.com.au after the match.

“It sets us up well, it’ll be good come back to an MCG home crowd, we’re pumped.”

Even more pleasing for the Stars is the fact they’ll take on a Heat outfit missing ‘Bash Brothers’ Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum, with the former on Australia ODI duties while the latter is serving a one-match suspension for slow over rates.

“We’re pretty lucky, I think there," Stoinis said.

“That’s a big bonus for us, so I think if we can get a couple of early wickets again and be right into them again.”

Stoinis polished off the Stars’ chase in a hurry on Saturday, smashing 28 runs off the last seven balls he faced to finish unbeaten on 40 off just 23 balls.

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“I think at that stage it was a run-a-ball, and it was probably my turn to take the risks in the game and let 'KP' bat without too much pressure on him, so that was the plan,” the powerful allrounder explained.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Stoinis, who copped a brutal Mitchell Johnson delivery in the groin and, after completing a quick single, spent several minutes lying on the WACA field while he collected himself.

But the 27-year-old was quick to confirm he would suffer no long-term damage.

“It just got my right friend downstairs, but it’s all good," Stoinis said.

“I was sore for a bit but I’ve had it checked out by the doctor and apparently it’s perfect.

“I got to the other end (of the pitch) and I felt like collapsing, to be honest, but I got there so it’s all good.”

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Stoinis was also full of praise for Pietersen, who despite looking patchy throughout his 44 not out off 42 deliveries, kept a cool head and steered the chase.

“He’s just so consistent and does the job most of the time for us. We can reply on him as an older, experienced head in the batting line-up to steer the ship and talk the players through the situation in the game, so it’s good to have him around.”