Melbourne Stars captain didn't require a scan after retiring hurt following a blow to his thumb
Stars, Aussie allrounder Stoinis cleared of thumb injury
Marcus Stoinis has been cleared of any damage to his thumb in a sigh of relief for Melbourne Stars' finals tilt and Australia's T20 World Cup campaign.
The Stars skipper was hit on the right thumb by a rising delivery from Jamie Overton late in his side's six-wicket win over Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old allrounder retired hurt immediately as a precaution, with the Stars firmly in control and needing just two more runs to win at that point.
Concern for the Melbourne Stars on the eve of the #BBL15 Finals.
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 13, 2026
Marcus Stoinis left the field with just two runs to win in their match at the MCG, after this incident. pic.twitter.com/LSRQlZOhIw
But the club confirmed on Thursday that Stoinis was feeling fine the day after the match and wasn't required to get a scan, with the right-hander expected to take his place in the side to face the Scorchers in Perth on Saturday.
Stoinis said Strikers players Chris Lynn and Aussie teammate Matt Short "talked some sense" into him and suggested he retire hurt, with the result already beyond doubt.
"It was the right decision in the end," he said post-match.
"It was nothing at the start and then after about 10 seconds your hand starts shaking a bit and you're a bit nervous about it.
"I think it's alright, but not worth pushing it, I guess."
Joe Clarke is also expected to be named in the Stars' squad to travel to Perth having missed the past five games after hurting his hip during his 60-run performance against the Thunder on December 28.
It's welcome news for the Stars, who following Hobart's shock loss to Brisbane Heat on Wednesday, can clinch top spot and two home finals with a win over the Scorchers.
"It's a massive advantage finishing in the top two and that was the first step to doing that," Stars' English allrounder Tom Curran told broadcaster Fox Cricket following his player of the match performance in their win over the Strikers.
"We've got an unbelievable bowling attack, but the batters have been unbelievable as well – Sammy Harper's got the yellow hat as (tournament) leading run-scorer.
"There's some big names in our batting line-up (like) 'Maxi' (Glenn Maxwell) who hasn't fired yet, so good signs for us heading into the crunch time of the tournament."
Stoinis and Maxwell will both leave for the T20 World Cup after the conclusion of the Stars' finals campaign, with Australia's first game of the tournament on February 11 (8.30pm AEDT) against Ireland in Colombo.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 13 |
|
2
STA
|
9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.031 | 0 | 12 |
|
3
SCO
|
8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.162 | 0 | 10 |
|
4
HEA
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.375 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
SIX
|
8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.458 | 0 | 9 |
|
6
STR
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.625 | 0 | 6 |
|
7
REN
|
8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.686 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.182 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points