If the choker tag wasn’t affixed firmly enough to the Melbourne Stars after last season’s calamitous final, Friday night’s loss to the Sydney Sixers would see it branded onto their green kits.
Bowled out for just 99, the Stars recorded their lowest ever Big Bash total at a time they could least afford it. The two keys to their fortunes this season, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell, both failed to fire, doing little to dispel lingering questions of over-reliance on the pair.
After notching ten wins in their first 11 games to seal top spot, David Hussey’s side have since lost four on the trot, becoming the source of ridicule despite a mostly successful season.
The Stars have made the finals in eight of nine BBL seasons – more than any other club. But they’re also one of just two sides, along with the Hobart Hurricanes, who are yet to taste Big Bash success. In an almost unlosable position in last season’s final the Stars needed just 53 off 43 with ten wickets in hand yet snatched defeat in comical circumstances.
(Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The choker tag is somewhat unfair given clubs such as the Thunder and Heat have made just two finals series in their history. But importantly in this context, those two have lifted the BBL trophy. The Stars haven’t, and the growing narrative is that a pressure to perform when it matters is weighing them down. It’s a story arc fans are keenly following, with more than a dollop of schadenfreude for some.
And it’s exactly the narrative the league needs more of.
Whether the Stars are mentally hampered by failures of the past is irrelevant. The fact is that fans have a frame of reference around the club when they take to the field. And while it’s a reference the Stars would rather rid themselves of, it’s one that fosters interest and assists in building hype around future contests.
The Brisbane Heat, who like the Stars are now tagged with a similarly unflattering reputation of being stubborn sloggers or front-runners, are another side whose storyline fans are well aware of. Skipper Chris Lynn even conceded the characterisation after losing to the Renegades in this season’s most baffling performance.
“I don’t know what goes on out in the middle because we just seem to panic,” Lynn said after his side lost 10-36 with the bat. “And then it’s not just a wicket or two, it’s a train wreck.”
(Photo: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Reaction from Heat fans on social media was damning. But it showed they care. Had fans been apathetic after that defeat, there would be more to worry about for the club than merely missing out on two points. But they did, and in a twisted way it was an endorsement of the club.
Slowly Big Bash clubs are gaining identities. This creates context around matches rather than the prism of one brightly coloured team against another. It has taken the IPL, which soon enters its 13th season, time to develop these too.
While the Stars and Heat are more obvious examples, the Renegades have quite clearly morphed into the competition’s most mercurial side, while up until last season the Scorchers were the league’s biggest over-achievers.
Of course there has to be a sense of realism about the level of fan investment in the BBL. The league will never replicate the sense of parochialism seen in the football codes and likely won’t become cricket’s showpiece like the IPL is in India. But at a basic level, interest in the league is more sustainable when there’s a historical context around the teams involved, however short that history may be.
Thursday night’s Challenger match pits the Stars against the Thunder, the winner of which will face the Sixers at the SCG in Saturday’s final. Those who tune in will be all too aware of the Stars’ troubles not just this season but also seasons gone by.
And it makes for all the more intriguing an encounter.
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
No worse than some of the exaggerated "baseball" stances adopted by most players theses days. It looks horrible to a cricket lover. Give me the good old days when the stance was proper with the bat on the ground and only lifted as the bowler was about to deliver. Old fashioned maybe, but was far more elegant to watch. And as for your Bailey comments, rubbish.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yeah, the BBL displays a comical standard at times, with some that would be miles from First Class honours, but labelling Bailey a grade cricketer is something else...
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
It takes time to build the traditions and fan base that the AFL and NRL have garnered. In this respect the BBL is miles behind and seems somewhat contrived. If it survives it might start to do it in another 20 years or so. I don’t have a team myself. The closest I can get to any sort of loyalty is to either of the Sydney teams because I’m from NSW but I also have a soft spot for the Hurricanes simply because they’re from little old Tassie and also the Heat because I lived in QLD for 15 years. So that’s 4 teams I like to see doing well. Not exactly tribal style passion is it .. My wife says she goes for the Sixers but I know that’s only because their uniform is vaguely pink, which is her favourite colour !! Not much to hang your hat on really but there you go. ps: I’ve basically reiterated what matth said. I somehow missed his post. Sorry matth.
anon
Roar Pro
They play for themselves.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
'non you are way off if you think the players don't care. Of the 3 formats it's the most risky and therefore most competitive. Precious little time to sit around thinking about coin. They are definitely putting in 110%. And they are teams like any other teams. Camaraderie and all that. It's just that it doesn't matter to you, which is perfectly fine.
anon
Roar Pro
His batting stance and technique is a joke.
David Schout
Expert
I know right, I hate those grade cricketers who've captained their country over 50 times
anon
Roar Pro
In order to choke, you have to be playing for stakes that a meaningful. No-one is choking in BBL cricket. You have to care about the result to choke. The only thing the players care about is that the cheque doesn't bounce. I know that the Renegades won last year, I know that the Scorchers have won a few times, Sydney Thunder won once, but I couldn't tell you when each team won or who they were playing. None of it matters. The BBL is just something you turn on while making dinner. If Stoinis is batting or Maxwell is coming in next I'll keep it on the BBL, but if it's some run a ball hack struggling against grade cricketers like George Bailey I won't even keep it on as background noise. I watch it for individual batsmen. Couldn't care less about the teams. Unfortunately the league is massively lacking in star power compared to the early seasons.
matth
Roar Guru
Footy clubs took a generation to get this level of parochialism that is now taken for granted. They also mostly arose in an era where it was organic growth from the grass roots of the communities they represent. The BBL will take a generation to get that level of identity and loyalty. The 6 year olds from year one have to grow up with the teams a have kids if their own who follow the team because their parents did, before it becomes a passionate following. It may never happen, but it might. I look at it like say the Brisbane Lions. They had no identity as the Bears and no passionate following. But over 30 years, throw in some success and there are now father and children supporters who share the clubs history. And that’s what makes a true club identity.
David Schout
Expert
Cheers Brett
David Schout
Expert
Understand that perception (with guest stint players coming in and out) but most clubs actually retained the vast majority of their core squad from last season
Paul D
Roar Rookie
So the Heat are gaining an identity as a bunch of one pump chumps, who can't adjust their pace based on the circumstances they find themselves in - bet they are thrilled by that.
Rob
Guest
You could just tell the Stars were going to lose that game against the Sixers. On another note I can't remember seeing a batsman in worse form than Nic Maddinson right now. I don't think he has middled a ball since December.
Brett McKay
Expert
Great read David - I'll be intrigued to see how - and even if - the Stars bounce back from their capitulation last week..
JGK
Roar Guru
It’s hard to develop a narrative when the players change teams so often.