Return of the queen could spark rising Stars

Rumours of a return to Melbourne for Australian captain Meg Lanning this WBBL season could be the beginning of the end of the longest finals drought in Big Bash history.

That's the hope of teenage allrounder Annabel Sutherland, who is optimistic her Melbourne Stars can finally breakthrough for a maiden finals appearance this season after five years of finishing outside the top four.

The Stars finished fifth in the first and second seasons of the Rebel WBBL before their skipper Lanning made a shock move west to join the Scorchers, with the Stars languishing in the bottom two for the next three seasons.

A five-year drought without a finals appearance is the longest in the history of both the men's and women's Big Bash tournaments, with Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades missing the finals on four consecutive occasions in the men's competition.

But a change of coach in the off-season - David Hemp's replacement is expected to be announced shortly - and speculation that Lanning will return has Sutherland confident of a shift in fortunes for WBBL|06.

"I haven't spoken to (Lanning) about it but if she were to come it'd be pretty good to have the Australian captain a part of the group," Sutherland said today.

"It'd certainly be a big boost for our batting line-up and I guess leadership as a whole is probably something we've lacked over the last few years.

"Having someone like Meg would be very exciting so hopefully those rumours are true."

Lanning, out of contract after three years with the Scorchers, has been unable to officially sign a new deal with any club due to the ongoing contracting embargo period for state and Big Bash teams caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A move home to Victoria would have its appeal given she spends the majority of the year on the road with the national side, and her sister Anna is also based in Melbourne for most of the year.

Speaking in late March, the World Cup winning skipper said she was yet to decide what her next move would be.

"I put it on the backburner (during the T20 World Cup) so I could focus on what we had at hand, so I hadn't given it a lot of thought over the last few months," she said.

"So it's probably good thing that I have a bit of time to work out what I'm after over the next little bit in the WBBL and where I'm best suited. It gives me a bit of extra time to think."

Adding to the off-season upheaval at the Stars has been the signing as head coach and then quick exit of Leah Poulton. The former Australia opener agreed in March to replace Hemp at the Stars before she departed less than a month later to take up a newly created role of Head of Female Cricket at NSW in her hometown of Sydney.

Sutherland is one of just five players currently contracted at the Stars for this season, along with WBBL|05 skipper Elyse Villani, former Australia quick Holly Ferling and youngsters Alana King and Nicole Faltum.

The allrounder says the group will confront their poor finals record head on when the season gets underway later this year.

"There's no shying away from us not having made finals," she said.

"As a group we've missed out on that consistency of performance so we're certainly looking forward to getting into the Big Bash and hopefully we can string some wins together.

"We'll obviously have a new coach and I think that gets announced soon. We're looking forward to getting together and I know there's a couple of players who are contracted and are looking forward to being part of the group for a couple of years.

"We're all really motivated and keen to put together a good squad and one that can hopefully win some more games than we have previously."