Superstar Dre-Russ to make shock BBL return

West Indies T20 superstar Andre Russell is set for a shock return to the KFC BBL with the Melbourne Stars in a major coup for the tournament.

One of the planet's best white-ball players when fully fit, the 33-year-old Jamaican will join the Stars for a five-game stint, beginning with their first home game of BBL|11 when they host the Sydney Thunder at the MCG this Friday.

The Thunder, coincidentally, is the club Russell previously played for across three seasons from 2014 to 2017.

The news was confirmed just a day after the Stars revealed the surprise addition to Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf to their cohort; he will play his first game on December 27 and remain with the side for the rest of the season. 

Russell played 19 games for the Thunder across the three seasons, with his last BBL appearance coming in early January 2017 when he was stretchered off Spotless Stadium in a game against the Stars.

The next month he was banned from the sport for a year for three doping whereabouts rule violations dating from 2015 and has not been back to Australia since.

His BBL career to date has yielded 296 runs from 17 innings at an incredible strike rate of 166.29 and included 21 sixes. He has also taken 23 wickets with an economy rate 7.97.

The right-handed power hitter comes into BBL|11 on the back of a stunning 90 not out off just 32 balls (nine fours and seven sixes) in a player-of-the-match performance in the Abu Dhabi T10 final on Saturday night.

Prior to that Russell went through a lean patch in the T20 World Cup after returning from a hamstring injury he sustained early in the second leg of the IPL, scoring just 25 runs in five innings and taking three wickets as the West Indies, one of the pre-tournament favourites, were bundled out with just one win.

The injury meant Russell only played three games of 10 games for the Kolkata Knight Riders when the tournament resumed in the UAE in September and missed the final where his side went down to Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs.

He was at his explosive best in the first half of the tournament in India in April, striking 163 runs from seven innings and collecting seven wickets, including at haul of 5-15.

Russell also destroyed Australia during their five-match T20 series in the Caribbean in July with scores of 51 from 28 balls, 24 not out from eight balls and 24 not out from 13 balls in the 4-1 series win for the West Indies.

The West Indian match winner is a veteran of T20 with 387 games to his name, 6430 runs including a highest score of 121 not out, and 343 wickets.

Russell has won T20 competitions all over the world – a boost for the title-less Stars – including two T20 World Cups, two in the Caribbean Premier League, two in the Bangladesh Premier League, a Pakistan Super League crown and the BBL with Thunder in 2015-16.

He said the opportunity to play at the MCG is what drew him to the Stars.

"I always try to test my skills and it's a big ground – when I signed guys were saying 'see how many sixes you can hit'," Russell said during Channel 7's broadcast of day one of the Ashes Test at the Gabba.

"Once you're in the moment you may hit one into the stands on one of the big sides. I'm just here to experience as well and showcase my talent.

"(I'm) happy to be part of the Big Bash once more, it's been a couple of years, so I'm looking forward to it.

"The guys went down in the first game and I'm definitely here to give the guys a boost and hopefully I can contribute and help them cross the line."

His inclusion comes at welcome time for the injury plagued Melbourne Stars who were thrashed by the Sydney Sixers in the season opener on Sunday by a BBL record margin.

"We've had a lot of injuries, a lot of guys yet to turn up," captain Glenn Maxwell said after the match.

"It's just put us behind where we would like to be for round one, but you can't win the tournament from round one.

"We're hoping (Marcus Stoinis) is going to be back next week. We've got (Nathan) Coulter-Nile, Joe Burns, Qais Ahmad … another overseas signing (Russell), so we've got plenty of options."

Russell is currently completing his mandatory 72 hours quarantine after flying into Sydney and will link up with the Stars at their game against the Thunder on Friday.

Sign up for BKT Big Bash Tipping this season at tipping.cricket.com.au! Go for the major prize or join a league and take on your friends, family and colleagues.