Stars strengthen spin stocks as Test bowler returns home

Melbourne Stars have added a second Test-capped spinner to their ranks with Victorian Todd Murphy coming home for KFC BBL|16.

Murphy, who has played all his Big Bash cricket with Sydney Sixers since his T20 debut five years ago, has signed with the Stars on a one-year deal.

The 25-year-old will join forces with leg-spinner Mitch Swepson who was recruited from Brisbane Heat last season, with the pair having previously toured India together in 2023 when Murphy made his Test debut.

"I feel like we'll complement each other really well and spin it different ways, so hopefully we can be a spin threat at the 'G," Murphy said after putting pen to paper with the Stars.

"'Sweppo' has always been really giving with his time, even when we've played Sheffield Shield or one-day cricket against each other, so I'm really keen on evolving that relationship and getting to work together.

"It feels like really good timing personally to come back home (to Melbourne) and getting to play at the MCG is always exciting."

After a tough final season with the Heat in BBL|14, Swepson produced his second-most productive BBL campaign in five years after joining the Stars last season. His eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.3 helped the Stars clinch a second straight finals berth.

Murphy, meanwhile, was often an auxiliary spinner in a strong Sixers bowling attack, initially biding his time behind veteran left-armer Steve O'Keefe before more recently being leapfrogged by rising star Joel Davies, who has been included in Australia's one-day squad for their coming Africa tour.

The off-spinner played just two games last season and coughed up almost 14 runs per over for his two wickets, which took his Sixers tally to 21 from 30 appearances.

Murphy was included but uncapped in Australia's ODI squad for series in Bangladesh and Pakistan earlier this year and harbours white-ball ambitions at international level, hoping to push his case during the one-day series against India A next month.

He also enjoyed a strong Top End T20 tournament for a Victorian Academy side last month with seven wickets in five matches.

"I'm just (looking to) evolve a little bit with the different formats; I guess you're just bowling different balls more regularly in white-ball cricket and trying to stay a step ahead of the batter is probably the main thing," Murphy said.

"(Ball flight) is fractionally flatter and faster and then going up and down the gears to try and use that as a variation."

Murphy is the first addition to new Stars coach Cameron White's roster for the upcoming season after a league-wide contracting embargo was lifted last week.

But his availability for the second half of BBL|16 will hinge on whether he is picked in Australia's Test squad to tour India in January and February, a distinct possibility given he was awarded a national contract in March and is also part of Australia A's red-ball tour of India later this month.

And Murphy, who played his last Test in Sri Lanka in January last year, has become well equipped at fine tuning his skills for the longer format while navigating a Big Bash season.

"I definitely want to be involved in BBL and play it when I can, so I was really keen on trying to lock a deal in to make sure I was playing and then let the other stuff (Test selection) take care of itself," he said.

"I actually feel the way I bowl in BBL with (my ball flight) being fractionally flatter and (with a) squarer (seam position) aligns quite well with subcontinent conditions.

"So, although it's a slightly different trajectory, I think it still does give me quite a good grounding of how I'll potentially want to bowl going over there."

Melbourne Stars BBL|16 squad (so far): Austin Anlezark (contracted until BBL|16), Hilton Cartwright (BBL|17), Sam Harper (BBL|17), Liam Hatcher (BBL|16), Campbell Kellaway (BBL|17), Glenn Maxwell (BBL|17), Todd Murphy (BBL|16), Tom Rogers (BBL|16), Peter Siddle (BBL|16), Marcus Stoinis (BBL|16), Mitch Swepson (BBL|17)

 

Uncontracted: Scott Boland, Joe Clarke (England), Tom Curran (England), Sam Hain (England), Blake Macdonald, Hamish McKenzie, Jon Merlo, Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Aryan Sharma, Mark Steketee, Tom Whitney

 

Head coach: Cameron White