Twitter Reactions: Marcus Stoinis' 97 overshadows Ben McDermott's 91 as Melbourne Stars clinch third win

Despite being in the game for almost the entire duration, McDermott’s wicket changed the tide in favor of the Stars, who won the game by 10 runs, restricting their opponents to 173 for 6.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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Marcus Stoinis
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Marcus Stoinis. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

A staggering 55-ball 97* from Marcus Stoinis became the fulcrum of Melbourne Stars’ innings against the Hobart Hurricanes in the 27th encounter of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020-21. After inserting the Stars to bat, Hurricanes struck as early as the first over as Andre Fletcher edged one off Riley Meredith to Ben McDermott behind the stumps. A noise and slight deviation as the ball went past the bat was suggestive of an edge, however, Fletcher’s bat hitting the ground at the same time raised suspicion whether he edged it or not.

Making his intentions clear right at the start of his innings, Marcus Stoinis deposited Johan Botha for a six over square leg the moment he entered as Nick Larkin stood quiet at the other end. In an attempt to make a move on, Larkin swung hard against Meredith, when he top-edged the delivery to Tim David at midwicket, who somehow grasped the catch. The Stars lost their momentum surprisingly when skipper Glenn Maxwell replaced Larkin to join Stoinis.

Marcus Stoinis’ whirlwind puts Stars in command

Maxwell (6 from 7) tried but struggled to make his presence felt before he got trapped by Sandeep Lamichchane’s googly while trying to reverse-sweep the spinner. At 50 for 3 after 8 overs, Stars changed gears at the half-way mark, when Stoinis and Pooran took on the bowlers and invoked the Power Surge in the 13th over. The two-over period, however,  generated mixed results for them as the duo pummeled Scott Boland for 21 runs, however, Pooran was knocked over in the immediately following over of Nathan Ellis, after scoring 26 from 21.

Having added 60 from just 6 overs with Pooran for the fourth wicket, Stoinis, who completed his half-century in 37 balls, got some able support from Hilton Cartwright, whose 36 from 24 included three sixes. Nathan Ellis bagged his third wicket in the penultimate over when Cartwright dragged a delivery straight to his stumps to bring his 54-run stand with Stoinis to an end. Eventually, Stoinis stood unbeaten after hitting 7 sixes and as many fours in his shining 97-run knock, which guided Stars to 183 for 6.

Ben McDermott almost does it for the Hurricanes 

During the chase, Ben McDermott nearly outshone Stoinis’ effort as he slammed 91 from 58, featuring 8 boundaries and 5 sixes before he fell to Liam Hatcher in the penultimate over of Hurricanes’ response. Opener D’Arcy Short’s (8 from 13) struggle was brought to an end by the left-arm Sam Rainbird as struck in the fourth over to get his team the first breakthrough. McDermott kept Hurricanes in the chase for as long as he was present, and at no point during his stay at the crease did the target seemed out of reach.

With Dawid Malan, who was trapped LBW by leg-spinner Adam Zampa after scoring 26 from 22, McDermott added a sublime 66 runs from just 47 deliveries, whereas he was involved in another quick-fire half-century stand for the fourth wicket with Colin Ingram (17 from13), who fell to a sensational catch by Andre Fletcher in the covers, off the bowling of Billy Stanlake. Despite being in the game for almost the entire duration, McDermott’s wicket changed the tide in favor of the Stars, who won the game by 10 runs, restricting their opponents to 173 for 6.

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