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The Melbourne Stars have saved the best til last and beaten the Hobart Hurricanes by three wickets at the MCG and forced all Canes players and fans to have a very nervous few hours as they wait on other results.
Ahead of the game most people were predicting a pretty easy win for the Hobart side – they have been having a good year and knew that a win today would lock in their finals spot. The Stars have been terrible all season and so why would they suddenly turn up today and offer any real resistance?
It looked like business as usual as the Canes went about setting a decent total. Even though the BBL’s top batsman – D’Arcy Short – was gone for a golden duck, the Canes went about their business and racked up the biggest score at the MCG of the season.
George Bailey gave them a good fast start with 32 from 20 and then Dan Christian and Nathan Reardon really kicked on. Christian got his 56 off of 59 balls and Reardon contributed too with 32 from 31 balls.
The Stars bowlers and fielders made things even harder for themselves with one no ball and ten wides and some terrible fielding.
So when the openers for the men in green stepped to the wicket most people were still thinking that the Canes would soon be booking their spot in the finals. Over the next 19 overs though we were treated to some great entertainment as several Stars batsmen contributed to a wonderful run chase.
Ben Dunk opened up and got 30 from 25 and John Hastings got a rapid and powerful 20 from just 10 balls. But it was Kevin Pietersen who really impressed in his final appearance and got the Stars to a position where they could win. His 46 from 39 balls was both exciting and frustrating as fans asked themselves why he hadn’t done this sooner in the season!
When he went the Stars were 6/151 and still needed 35 runs from 4 overs. But thanks to some poor bowling from Tymal Mills and Evan Gulbis and Daniel Worrall holding their nerve the home side got home with five balls to spare.
There were some embarrassing moments for the Canes including a moment where Gulbis smashed a boundary and then pointed out to the umpire that the Canes only had three men in the infield. The umpire signalled that it was therefore also a no-ball and that the Stars could have a free hit.
Bailey’s insistence of sticking with Mills was curious as well. The bowler went for 14 per over and his loose bowling really helped the Stars chase down the target.
So it was a great win for the Stars who waved goodbye to Rob Quiney, Pietersen and Luke Wright in style. But it was a worrying performance from the Canes and it could be the end of their season.
Hobart are now relying upon the final game’s result between the Renegades and Heat to learn whether they will be in the finals. Not exactly what they wanted!
For the Stars this result will help with recruitment for next year and ticket sales as it’s shown what they can achieve when they play well.
Overall though it’s been a disappointing season for the men from Melbourne and they will hate having won the wooden spoon. Hopefully 2018/19 will see improvements all over for them.
For the Canes – let’s hope they have some fingernails left by the end of the day!
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