Courtesy: BBL/X
On Saturday, January 4, during the Melbourne derby in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2024-25, the Melbourne Stars captain, Marcus Stoinis, smashed his close friend and city rival Adam Zampa of the Melbourne Renegades for a massive 106-metre six. In pursuit of the 169-run target, Stoinis was on song with the bat during the Stars innings, and his contribution helped the team defeat the Renegades by five wickets with two balls to spare.
The third ball of the ninth over in the Melbourne Stars innings was a rare flighted delivery from Australian leg spinner Adam Zampa, which was perfectly in the slot for Marcus Stoinis to get underneath, and loft it over the bowler’s head in style. The brute force possessed by Stoinis was enough to help him send the ball well into the grandstand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for six valuable runs.
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Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright put the finishing touches on Melbourne Stars' run chase
In the next over of Adam Zampa’s spell, the Australian all-rounder collected a couple of fours, to put the Melbourne Renegades in a strong position to defeat the Melbourne Renegades before he and half-centurian Ben Duckett were dismissed in quick succession. With the pressure back on the Stars, the experience of Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright paid rich dividends as their quick-fire 20s each were enough to chase down the 169-run target despite Gurinder Sandhu’s three wickets.
Earlier, for the Melbourne Renegades, Jacob Bethell and Jonathan Wells got impressive 40s each, to set the platform for their side to put up a competitive total of 168/7 in their allotted overs. The former Australian cricketers Joel Paris and Peter Siddle picked up a couple of wickets each for the Melbourne Stars during their bowling effort, while the likes of Mark Steketee and Usama Mir settled for a wicket each.
But despite their big derby win, the Melbourne Stars are languishing at the bottom of the table in the BBL 2024-25, two places behind the Melbourne Renegades in eighth spot.
