The Bash files: Stars not so twinkly

The second round of BBL|04 got underway last night, with the Perth Scorchers opening their title defence with a thrilling but excruciating last-over loss to the Adelaide Strikers at the WACA.

It won’t be the end of the world for defending champions, with two games in four days coming up with which to peg back the one that got away last night.

But on the other hand…

Melbourne Stars missing their sparkle?
Two losses from two games suddenly have the competition favourites under a bit of pressure. Last week in my opening BBL column, I asked the perennial “Will the Melbourne Stars choke yet again?” question, but I have to admit that there was much more rhetoric behind it than genuine belief.

The loss to Adelaide on opening night wasn’t so much a surprise to me, because the Strikers are an underrated team (see the point below). However, the way the Stars followed up that loss, with bowling effort that allowed Hobart to make about 40 more runs than they perhaps should have, and a lacklustre run-chase to fall 52 runs short, certainly was surprising.

The pressure is now well and truly on.

The Stars have will quite likely lose Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner to Australian ODI duty mid-BBL, meaning they only have four more games to resurrect their campaign. In reality, knowing how close the competition will finish, they probably have to win all four.

And it’ll be no easy feat: the Stars face the Heat in Brisbane, and have two Melbourne derbies either side of a home game against the Sydney Sixers. The time for the Stars to shine is right now.

Strikers prompting some reassessment
Last week, I proposed that Adelaide would be in the battle for the third and fourth playoff spot, and that was obviously written before a ball had been bowled in the BBL this summer. But it was written after more than a few pundits couldn’t make the case for them qualifying at all.

And it’s fair to say this surprised me.

Adelaide recruitment has been impressive for BBL|04, with Kieron Pollard enticed back by the short square boundaries, and joined in the arrivals lounge by Brad Hodge and Craig Simmons. They still have Dutch star Ryan ten Doeschate up their sleeve, too, who has been rated as one of the best T20 players in the world.

But their bowling is really balanced, as evidenced by the job they’ve done on the Stars and Scorchers in successive outings. Ben Laughlin and Kane Richardson are clever short-format bowlers, and in Johan Botha and young leggie Adam Zampa, they’re well catered in the spin department too. And I haven’t mentioned Shaun Tait yet.

It’s just a really well balanced side, with subtlety and brutality in all the right amounts. Despite nearly falling in a heap last night, they’re a better team than we think, the Strikers.

Fielding freaks continue the one-upmanship
I still can’t believe Glenn Maxwell’s effort on the MCG boundary against Hobart on Saturday night.

Hurricanes’ batsman Jonathan Wells had smoked a Jackson Bird delivery over the long-on rope, only to see Maxwell launch himself beyond the rope like he’s Michael Jordan lifting off from the free-throw line, take the catch, and then all in one motion, parry it back into the field of play. It saved four runs!

You can check it out again here.

Say what you like about Glenn Maxwell the batsman, but he’s genuinely one of the best fielders in world cricket.

But I bet someone tops his effort before the summer is done.

Not bad for old fellas
The Mike Hussey-Jacques Kallis partnership on Sunday night was just extraordinary, and already they’ve make the Thunder an altogether different prospect.

Such was the brilliance of the two elder gentlemen, that it’s easy to forget that it was just the Thunder’s fourth win in BBL history, and just their second since the very first season.

Will they now start favourites in the first Sydney derby of BBL|04? Stranger things have happened.

Simmons vs Sammy
So here’s a question to start the discussion. Who’s the better ball-striker: the sweet timing of former Perth cult hero, now Adelaide opener Craig Simmons, or the calypso creativity of Hobart’s West Indian import, Darren Sammy?

I contend that that down-on-one-knee free-swinging lofted drive of Simmons – either over long-off, or to the leg side – is just one of the prettiest sights in cricket.

But then when you see what Sammy did to the Stars on Saturday night, where he clubbed, bunted, swatted, and annihilated balls to and over the boundary in his 12-ball cameo of destruction, you quickly see how it becomes a tough one to answer!

Over to you guys on that one…

The rest of Round 2
Tonight: Hobart v Sydney Sixers, Bellerive Oval, 7:10pm local
Friday: Perth v Melbourne Renegades, the “Furnace”, 4:10pm local
Saturday: Sydney Thunder v Sydney Sixers, ANZ Stadium, 7:10pm local

Tips/Best guesses
Hobart Hurricanes
Melbourne Renegades
Sydney Thunder