Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
📻 How to tune into Sport Nation
Missed opportunity: Harper reflects on Stars' BBL|15 exit
SEN • January 22nd, 2026 4:00 pm
The Melbourne Stars again came up short in the BBL finals, this time going down to the Hobart Hurricanes on the final ball of the game in Wednesday’s Knockout.
The big clash in Hobart was heavily rain-affected throughout, with play starting late and a 10-over-a-side match created.
While the Stars would have been happy with their bowling efforts, keeping the home side to 114, they only had seven overs to chase 85 after rain came down again during the start of their chase.
Unfortunately for the Stars, they managed just 81 as the Hurricanes moved on and the Stars headed back to Melbourne.
After starting the season on fire with four-straight wins, Harper - the BBL|15 Player of the Tournament - was asked whether it was disappointing to bow out in a game where they didn’t get ideal conditions to really find out who the better team was.
“Definitely a little bit disappointing, but there's also 10 home and away games to get yourself there,” Harper said on SEN Mornings.
“I mean, we had that chance in Perth last week to finish on top of the ladder and get a game at the MCG. So, there's always plenty of opportunities to get yourself into the right spot.
“There wasn't much anyone could do last night. The curators did a great job getting the ground and the pitch in such awesome condition to play when the rain stopped.
“Initially, I thought chasing 115 in 10 overs, once I found out Chris Jordan wasn't bowling with that short side, was actually quite an achievable chase.
“But I think that little 8-minute spell off hurt us a lot, to be honest.
“Yes, 11 over is not an easy chase, but it feels very manageable, especially with the batting lineup and power that we've got.
“At that stage, you think you've got a one over Surge, and you think you've got 60 balls.
“Everything sort of changes when it's 10 overs to 7; it does impact the game a lot.
“When we were 19 off 2 overs, 76 off 30 was always going to be a big ask. It was an incredible job from the boys to get as close as we did.”
Those three overs lost to rain in the Stars’ chase saw the run-rate required jump, as well as the Power Play being shortened to one over and the Surge being taken out of the equation altogether.
With that in mind, many felt the Stars should have gotten Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell into the game earlier.
While Harper can see that opinion in hindsight, he thinks the Stars were put into a hard spot given the ever-changing game conditions.
“In hindsight, yes. But I think everyone's got very good in hindsight the next day,” Harper said.
“It's like saying Nick Daicos should've been tagged when he had 40 disposals and kicked 4, but Josh Daicos did what he wanted off half back.
“I'm trying not to live in the world of hindsight. If we knew it was going to be a seven-over game and Chaudhary was going to bowl the first over, you might make some different decisions.
“But, I genuinely felt chasing 115 with 60 balls, the way we structured our batting lineup, thinking we had a Surge to come and knowing we had a 2-over Power Play, that we had the batting order to try and pull off that run chase.”
The Hurricanes next play the Sixers at the SCG on Friday night for a spot to face the Scorchers in Sunday’s Final at Optus Stadium.
