KEEPING their slim BBL|14 finals chances alive, Melbourne Stars are on the rise with back-to-back wins and the most recent one coming at the expense of rival, Melbourne Renegades last night. The Stars toppled the Renegades in front of more than 40,000 fans at the MCG, with Ben Duckett winning Player of the Match in the five-wicket victory.

It was a nail-biter throughout and the Stars only reached the total with two balls remaining, largely thanks to middle-order experience. Duckett and skipper Marcus Stoinis put in a match-winning 83-run fourth wicket partnership, which was cruical given the other three top order batsmen fell cheaply.

Despite Tom Rogers, Sam Harper and Dan Lawrence all combining for just four runs, it was Duckett (67 runs off 49 balls) and Stoinis (48 off 35) who came to the rescue to steady the innings until teh start of the Power Surge. The green side lost both of its key run-makers in that two-over period, with Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright doing what they do best late, hitting a combined 44 off 22 balls at a strike rate of 200 per cent.

Maxwell’s 20 off 10 and Cartwright’s 24 off 12 steered the Stars to victory, with Cartwright smacking Rogers over the fence from an aggressive front foot shot on the third ball of the 20th over, and then doubled up with an outstanding pull shot off the back foot to thump the ball to the boundary for the win.

The Stars victory came despite the best efforts of Gurinder Sandhu (3-29) who was by far the most influential bowler for the Renegades on the night. Though the higher ranked Melbourne side slumped to a third consecutive loss, they still have four more matches remaining to try and snatch a finals place.

Melbourne Renegades did put on a strong showing of 168 runs with Jacob Bethell (49 off 36) and Jonathan Wells (45 off 31) both falling short of half centuries. The top order did better than the Stars despite losing Josh Brown for just six runs, with the other three top six batsmen all making double-figure runs, including Laurie Evans (24 not out from 11 balls).

From here, the Stars cannot afford to lose any more matches coming up against Sydney Sixers on January 9 back at the MCG. The Renegades have a shorter wait to bounce back from another loss when they travel to Perth to clash with the Scorchers on Tuesday.

SCORECARD

RESULT: Stars won by 5 wickets with 2 balls remaining
POTM: Ben Duckett (Melbourne Stars)
BAT FLIP: Stars won and elected to bowl

Melbourne Renegades
Jacob Bethell 49 (36), Jonathan Wells 45 (31)
Joel Paris 2-23 (4), Peter Siddle 2-36 (4)

Melbourne Stars
Ben Duckett 67 (49), Marcus Stoinis 48 (35)
Gurinder Sandhu 3-29 (4), Tom Rogers 1-37 (3.4)

INNINGS BREAKDOWN:

Power Play (1-4):
Renegades: 2-21
Stars: 2-32

Halfway (10):
Renegades: 3-63
Stars: 3-81

Power Surge:
Renegades: (15-16): 3-99 to 4-126 (1-27)
Stars: (16-17): 3-120 to 5-137 (2-17)

Totals:
Renegades: 7-168 (20.0)
Stars: 5-171 (19.4)

SQUADS

Melbourne Stars: Tom Rogers, Ben Duckett, Sam Harper (wk), Dan Lawrence, Marcus Stoinis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Usama Mir, Joel Paris, Mark Steketee, Peter Siddle

Melbourne Renegades: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Brown, Tim Seifert (wk), Jacob Bethell, Laurie Evans, Jonathan Wells, Will Sutherland (c), Tom Rogers, Gurinder Sandhu, Adam Zampa, Xavier Crone