Stars left facing a nervous wait, with their finals fate out of their hands after a loss to the Scorchers on their home turf
Match Report:
ScorecardSuper Scorchers go top to leave Stars on the brink
The match in a tweet: Stars on the brink! Scorchers move to top spot and hand the Stars what could be the knockout blow to their #BBL10 finals chances
The scores: Perth Scorchers 4-182 (Roy 54, Munro 46no) beat the Melbourne Stars (Larkin 70, Tye 2-28) by 11 runs
The points: Scorchers 4, Stars 0
The finals race: The Stars’ hopes of playing finals this season could well be dashed even before they take on the ladder-leading Sydney Sixers in their final match of the regular season on Tuesday night. Tonight’s loss leaves them in fifth spot on the ladder and the Strikers (two games to play), Hurricanes (two) and Heat (one) all have chances to guarantee they finish ahead of the Melbourne side even before the Stars take the field against the Sixers. It’s not over yet, but one of the pre-tournament favourites is up against it to finally end their title drought this season. The Scorchers, meanwhile, have no such concerns; tonight’s win moves them to the top of the table, and they have the possibility of a home final within reach.
The stat: Since the new year, the Scorchers have batted first in seven BBL matches and posted 170 or more on all but one occasion. And the one exception is the only loss they’ve had in that time, when they scored 7-163 in their defeat to the Sydney Sixers. As it has been for most of the season, tonight was a team effort from Perth’s batting group, with Jason Roy (54 from 32), Colin Munro (46no from 30), Josh Inglis (26 from 16) and Ashton Turner (18no from 9) all making important contributions.
The Kiwi: After a sluggish start to the tournament by his high standards, New Zealand import Munro has been a model of power and consistency for the Perth Scorchers since the new year. In his past seven innings, the left-hander has posted scores of 52, 50, 50, 34, 82, 5 and 46no tonight to move to third on the tournament’s list of leading run-scorers. His tournament strike rate of 133.33 is on the low side compared to the other prolific run getters this season, but it matters little given the destructive powers of those before and after him in Perth’s batting order.
HUGE! Biggest six of the night goes to Colin Munro 💥 #BBL10 pic.twitter.com/080QWWIyQv— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 23, 2021
The big guns: The Stars’ two most credentialed bowlers, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Zampa, went the distance tonight, conceding a total of 97 runs from their eight overs, a combined run rate of 12.16 an over. The gamble of bowling Zampa in the Power Play didn’t pay off tonight as the leggie’s opening over went for 19 and while he conceded just eight runs from his Power Surge over, Zampa finished with figures of 1-48 from four, his worst return of what has been another excellent season. On the other hand, Coulter-Nile started brilliantly and had figures of 1-12 from two overs before Munro, Josh Inglis and Ashton Turner got a hold of him, the paceman’s next two overs going for 20 and 17 as he finished with 1-49.
The moment: After losing both openers inside the first six overs, including key man Marcus Stoinis, much of the responsibility for the Stars’ run chase rested on the shoulders of skipper, Glenn Maxwell. As the right-hander played out three dot balls to start his innings, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting suggested in commentary that leg spin might be the way for the Scorchers to get their man and not for the first time this summer, his prediction was on the money. From the first ball Fawad Ahmed bowled for the night, Maxwell went back to pull but handed a catch straight to Turner at short mid-wicket, a blow to the Stars that they weren’t able to fully recover from.
The consolation effort: As he did against the Renegades on Wednesday night, Nick Larkin led the way for the Stars while wickets tumbled around him to give his side a fighting chance. The right-hander is far from the most destructive batsman in the competition, but he went up a few gears tonight, powering nine fours and a six in his score of 70 from 44 balls. Since finding a semi-permanent home at No.3 in the Stars line-up, Larkin has posted scores of 18, 43, 61no and 70 tonight and the final victory margin of 11 runs would have been much, much greater if not for his contribution.
The next stop: The Stars will have a nervous few days of hoping other results go their way before they take on the Sixers in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday night, while the Scorchers will face the Heat earlier that afternoon, knowing a finals spot is already secure.