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That is the league stage of BBL 24/25 done. It is all about business now. We have the top-4 teams locked in. Hurricanes vs Sixers on Tueday in Hobart will be the Qualifier and then Thunder vs Stars on Wednesday will be the knockout in Sydney. A gap of one day in between and we will see you in the business end now. This is Sourabh on behalf of Bidipto and the entire team, good bye!
Glenn Maxwell (Player of the Match, 76* off 32 balls): It's been a hell of a turnaround this season! Marcus Stoinis has done an amazing job as captain! He has been pretty consistent throughout, held the group together and the change-room atmosphere has been tremendous! We love playing for this team. The boys have provided everything they have been asked for and it's a result of that. We fly tomorrow afternoon to Sydney and have a training session on Tuesday, so, let's see how things go.
22:38 Local Time (17:08 IST): Melbourne Stars win by 40 runs and qualify for the Finals
A comprehensive win for the Melbourne Stars as they make it 5 wins out of 5 and have qualified for the finals as the final team in what has been a stunning turnaround from the team in Green.
After losing their first 5 matches, all in 2024, Stars looked well and truly out of contention but they have written a script of their own and come the new year 2025, here they are, winning 5 on the trot in what has been a dream run for them. As a result of this performance, Perth Scorchers now get knocked out of the competition.
Stars were up against a lackadaisical Hurricanes unit who had already secured their top-place finish regardless of the result of this match while it was a must win for the Stoinis-led side. They have comfortably brushed aside the (lack of) challenge posed by the table-toppers and have played like a team which deserves to be in the top-4.
After setting up a huge target of 220 on the back of another swashbuckling innings from Maxwell (76* off 32 with 5 fours and 6 sixes) and a fifty from Beau Webster, Stars came out to defend the target in full aplomb.
Mitchell Owen smacked Joel Paris for 17 in the first over but then Mark Steketee did what he has been doing for the Stars, picked up a couple of wickets in his very first over and then from there it was all Stars. Owen tries but his effort was short-lived as he fell on 38. Hurricanes did keep up with the rate for the first half of the innings but they lost a lot of wickets in doing so, 6 in the first 11 overs and when you do that chasing 220 you are more than likely to fall short.
Nathan Ellis swung his bat around and played a lovely innings of 40 but it was too little too late for them as the ship had already sailed. Almost every bowler for the Stars contributed, barring Siddle who had an off day. In the end, Steketee emerged as the pick and finished the match with 4 wickets.
19.3 Mark Steketee to Nathan Ellis, MAXWELL BEFITTINGLY TAKES THE CATCH AND THE STARS FINISH IN THE TOP FOUR! THE SCORCHERS ARE KNOCKED OUT, AS A RESULT. Length ball on off-stump. Ellis went through with the flat, big shot over the in-field but could not clear long-on. The ever-reliable Big Show managed to catch the ball in style and end the game on a high!
Nathan Ellis c Glenn Maxwell b Mark Steketee 40 (22b, 4x4, 3x6)
19.2 Mark Steketee to Nathan Ellis, FOUR RUNS! Full outside off-stump. Nicely squirted over the backward point fielder from deep in the crease for a boundary!
19.1 Mark Steketee to Nathan Ellis, full around off-stump. Drilled down to long-on from deep in the crease, but the single is refused.
Just the final over remains now, Steketee will be looking to clean it up
19
overs
174/9score
W
1
4
0
0
0
runs
Nathan Ellis*
35(19)
Marcus Bean
1(1)
Joel Paris
2/39
18.6 Joel Paris to Nathan Ellis, short and slow on middle-and-off. Flat-batted down to long-on off the back foot for a single now.
18.5 Joel Paris to Nathan Ellis, back of a length and slow on leg-and-middle. Powered to the long-on fielder on one bounce for no run.