Melbourne to lose two Stars?

The Melbourne Stars are facing the very real possibility of being without two of Twenty20 cricket’s most prolific run-scorers for BBL|04 with Brad Hodge and David Hussey both linked to moves interstate.

An ongoing embargo period prevents teams signing new players, but Fairfax Media are reporting Hodge, the world’s most successful T20 batsman, will line up for the Adelaide Strikers next season.

Stars chief executive Clint Cooper told Fairfax Media he would work with Hodge and his manager when the embargo is lifted “in accordance with CA rules”.

"Brad is a Victorian player through and through and we'd love him to play out his career with the Stars,” he said.

“However this is a new age of cricket and nothing is guaranteed these days."

Thirty-nine-year-old Hodge would join former team-mates Darren Berry (current Strikers coach) and Andrew McDonald in Adelaide but the major departures may not stop there for the boys in green.

David Hussey, fresh off the back of a solid KFC Big Bash League season, is being linked to a reunion with brother, and Sydney Thunder captain, Mike, as the Stars eye the signing of IPL million-dollar man Kevin Pietersen.

Overlooked for an England and Wales Cricket Board contract, Pietersen is rumoured to be on the Melbourne side’s radar, with a major reshuffling expected to accommodate the ‘walking ego’ within the salary cap.

Hussey averaged just over 49 for the Stars in BBL|03 and would bring a wealth of experience to a Thunder side which managed just the one win in 2014.