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Why “dangerous” Stars can go all the way after magical run to BBL|14 finals
Lachlan Geleit • January 21st, 2025 2:11 pm
The Melbourne Stars pulled off the unthinkable to qualify for the BBL|14 finals, but can they go all of the way for the first time in franchise history?
After winning their last five games in a row to snatch fourth place, the Stars will need to claim another three games in a row to lift the trophy aloft.
While they’ll be up against it having to play any final they qualify for away from home against a team that finished higher than them, SEN Cricket’s Adam White thinks that the Stars are in it up to their eyeballs as they’re playing the best cricket of all of the teams at the moment.
“They’ve put together five wins in a row to make finals and it was a 1 or 2 per cent chance of them being able to do that after their start to the season,” White said on SEN Afternoons.
“But in this format of the game, you can go on these momentum runs where you can win a lot in a row and you can also lose a lot in a row.
“But off the back of what Glenn Maxwell's been doing, and it's not quite a one-man show, but it's almost been, they’ve found a way to get themselves into finals and there’s no reason to suggest they can’t keep going because they’re probably playing the best cricket of all the teams at the moment.”
White thinks that the Stars were able to turn things around once they no longer had anything to lose, with Glenn Maxwell - who has made scores of 20 not out, 58 not out, 90 and 76 not out in his last four knocks - leading the way for a dangerous side that’s been playing with ‘house money’.
“That's why they're dangerous, because in this form of the game when you feel like you've got nothing to lose and not worried about losing, losing your wicket or getting hit for a six … it’s like you’re using house money and that can make you so much more dangerous,” White said.
“I feel at times at the start of the tournament, they were worried about the result.
“There's a lot of pressure on the Stars every year to perform because they have been a team that's underperformed pretty much throughout the history of the competition, but particularly in recent years.
“So once that pressure lifted and Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis started to play better cricket, it all started to turn around.
“Going into that final series, that scene still remains, it’s ‘Why not us?’ … they could keep going on that roll knowing they’re using house money.”
The Stars face the Thunder in a win-or-go-home final at Engie Stadium on Wednesday.
The BBL|14 Final takes place on Monday, January 27.
