History's weight is not fazing the Melbourne Stars as they seek to lock their place in the top two on the BBL|15 ladder
Surge Pod: Stoinis' Stars not scared of what's ahead
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Is this finally the year the Melbourne Stars break the drought?
After 14 iterations of the Big Bash League, the Stars, famously, are the only club not to win a title.
Thrice runners up, and nine-time finalists, their short history of near misses is famous among the BBL fraternity.
That, though, might at last be set to change.
After eight of their 10 group matches, the Stars are second on the BBL|15 ladder with five wins and a healthy net run rate. Three losses on the trot were brought to an end by a commanding eight-wicket win over the Renegades in Saturday night’s Melbourne derby, a victory that confirms the team’s belief that something special is brewing.
“It just feels like we believe in ourselves,” Stars captain Marcus Stoinis told The Surge, Big Bash podcast.
“It feels like, individually, the boys believe in themselves (and) they believe in their mates.
“To be honest, obviously, we're all here to win. The drought isn't actually something that you do think about.
“I'd love us to have the mindset of not being scared to lose anything, not being scared for someone to call you… ‘you choked again’, or this or that, because it actually doesn't matter.
“Just front up and keep doing your best and hopefully we have a team that sticks together for a long time and we can create some success.”
Overcoming their mid-season slump was always going to be a major talking point for the Stars, given their hot start to the tournament in December before stumbling when the new year began.
Stoinis labelled their loss to the Sydney Sixers the ‘poorest’ of their eight games so far, but was heartened by his side’s response against the Renegades just two days later.
“I think the main thing was to make sure everyone is feeling like we are going all right because to me, we were, we were doing pretty well,” he explained.
“We had probably our poorest game against the Sixers. The other two were tight, and you're going to lose games like that in a competition over (the) 10 games and plus finals.
“It was just making sure that everyone's got their chin up and was going in the right direction, which we believe as a leadership group and coaching staff that it is.”
At the age of 36, Stoinis is midway through his second season as Stars’ captain, a responsibility he acknowledges has helped him evolve his own game after more than 350 T20 matches across his career.
“It does (make me a better player), especially at this stage of my career.
“It helps me to be super engaged in the game and to be super aware, or try to be aware of how everyone's going, and be involved in the whole team, and talking to the coaching stuff.
“I enjoy it, but I think there's always a time in your career for it as well. You get a different a different lens. Even in teams when you're not captaining, you see the game a little bit differently once you've done it a few times.”
The Melbourne Stars have two more games of the regular season remaining, hosting the Adelaide Strikers at the MCG on January 13 and heading west to face the Perth Scorchers on January 17, in which they will look to shore up their place in the top two ahead of the finals.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.398 | 0 | 13 |
|
2
STA
|
8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.909 | 0 | 10 |
|
3
SIX
|
8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.458 | 0 | 9 |
|
4
SCO
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.094 | 0 | 8 |
|
5
HEA
|
8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.446 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
STR
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.258 | 0 | 6 |
|
7
REN
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.713 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.348 | 0 | 2 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points