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A Glenn Maxwell heroic knock leads the Stars to Victory
Jordan Moll • January 13th, 2025 12:50 am
The Melbourne Stars have won the 28th edition of the Melbourne Derby thanks to an unbelievable knock by Glenn Maxwell followed by some classy bowling by Mark Steketee in front of a packed Marvel Stadium.
Going into the game both teams sat with three wins in their BBL14 campaign with the winner tonight rocketing up to 4th on the ladder and the loser seeing their finals hope crash down.
Melbourne Renegades captain Will Sutherland won the bat flip on a must win game for both sides in the Melbourne Derby and decided to send the Stars into bat.
The Renegades welcomed in 19-year-old debutant Harry Dixon to bolster their batting stocks and also welcomed back opening batter Josh Brown from a wrist injury to go along with Fergus O’Neill.
The Stars on the other hand just made the one change with Tom Rogers coming in for Dan Lawrence.
The competition leading wicket taker Tom Rogers took the first over for the Renegades and stuck with the very first ball of the game, hitting Stars opener Sam Harper on the pad as it was crashing into the middle of middle stump, the worst possible start for the Stars.
The early wicket brought recent Australian test hero Beau Webster to the crease to partner Ben Duckett, and they stabilised the Stars to find them 1/31 at the end of the Powerplay.
But just after the Powerplay Fergus O’Neill struck with two wickets in two balls getting the wickets of Duckett and Rogers and the hat trick ball fell just short of Kane Richardson at a wide mid-off, robbing us of the 12th hat trick in BBL history but leaving the Stars reeling at 3/32.
Then shortly after Webster hit one straight to cover off the bowling of Adam Zampa and the Stars found themselves in significant trouble at 4/45 only seven overs into proceedings.
Marcus Stonis was the next man to fall when a massive shot came within inches of hitting the roof but instead was caught right on the fence at deep mid-on, making it 5/55 and giving Rogers his second wicket of the night.
Things continued to go the Renegades way when the picked up a wicket either side of the drinks break, highlighted by an amazing direct hit run out by debutant Harry Dixon.
Former Melbourne Stars captain and the man they call the Big Show, Glenn Maxwell just had to go big for the Stars to register any sort of defendable score and go big he did.
Some incredible power hitting saw the Stars score rise from the ashes and Maxwell brought up his 50 off 37 deliveries with five crazy sixes.
Maxwell farmed the strike leaving his partner Usama Mir at the other end who was later dismissed for the best/worst duck in history?
The power hitting continued for the Stars, highlighted by a 122m six from Maxwell, showcasing some of the greatest hitting you have ever seen.
As the last over of the innings commenced the Stars sat on 8/158 but more importantly Maxwell was on 90 runs off 51 balls but it wasn’t to be a century for Maxwell as he chopped on, but the fans stood and applauded one of the greatest knocks ever seen in the BBL, 90 runs with 14 boundaries and 10 sixes!
The Stars finished their innings on 165 giving themselves something to bowl at, all thanks to Glenn Maxwell.
O’Neill led the way for the Renegades taking 2/16 with Richardson, Zampa and Rogers also taking two wickets.
The Renegades were given a reasonable score to chase and didn’t start well losing their two openers in Marcus Harris and Josh Brown in the second over off a 10 ball over from Mark Steketee, highlighted by a wonderful catch by Usman Mir to send Brown on his way.
Early wickets brought an out of form Jake Fraser-McGurk to the crease as the Renegades were in trouble, being 2/17 at the end of the powerplay, with no boundaries coming off the bat.
Things went from bad to worse for the Renegades with Jacob Bethell chopped onto the stumps, giving Joel Paris his first wicket of the night and putting the Gades 3/22.
Just as the Renegades started a bit of a partnership with Tim Seifert and Fraser-McGurk a wicket fell, with McGurk getting out in a familiar fashion caught by Hilton Cartwright in the deep off the bowling Steketee, his third wicket and the Renegades found themselves 4/44.
As drinks were called the game looked set for a grandstand finish with the Renegades requiring 112 runs off the final 10 overs with six wickets in hand with captain Will Sutherland and Seifert at the crease.
But just as the Renegades took the Power Surge in the 13th over, Sutherland was castled by Peter Siddle making the equation very difficult for the Renegades, requiring 90 runs from 45 balls.
Debutant Harry Dixon, who starred for Australia in the under 19 world cup, came to the crease but lost two of his batting partners in Seifert and Tom Rogers in quick succession making the Renegades 7/80 and in need of a miracle.
Despite a few promising shots from Dixon, he departed off the bowling of Steketee who then dismissed Zampa the next ball to take a five-wicket haul, and for the second time in the game there was a hat trick ball.
It wasn’t to be a hat trick, but it was incredible figures for Steketee finishing with 5/17 from his four overs.
As the innings came to a close the Renegades were bowled out for 123, losing by 42 runs and losing their third Melbourne derby in a row.
The win takes the Stars from last on the ladder all the way up to fourth place and extending their winning streak to four games.
Paris was the next best bowler for the Stars behind Steketee with 3/13 to go along with Siddle’s 1/13.
Tim Seifert top scored for the Renegades with 26 in a bleak looking batting scorecard for the Renegades.
But the main headline out of tonight was the Maxwell spectacular innings that all 38,031 people in attendance tonight will remember.
The Stars will look to add to their four-game winning streak and lock up a finals spot with their final game of the regular season against the Hobart Hurricanes at the MCG next Sunday.
While the Renegades will look to bounce back against the Hurricanes on Tuesday night in Hobart.
