The Melbourne Stars have received a huge boost on the eve of their BBL match in Albury with captain Glenn Maxwell passed fit to play against the Sydney Thunder.
Helped by an unusually drawn-out fixture to begin the tournament, Maxwell has only one missed one game despite injuring a muscle in his forearm in the opening match against Brisbane Heat two weeks ago.
The star all-rounder returns as his side looks to register its first win of the season in the ‘Border Bash’ at Albury’s Lavington Sports Ground in the first match of Saturday’s double-header.
The Stars have won the flip and will bat first, with the match scheduled to get underway at 3.30pm AEDT.
MATCH CENTRE: Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder live scorecard
Teammate Hilton Cartwright said there was an urgency heading into the match after two heavy losses sent the Stars to the bottom of the table.
Conscious of the shortened 10-game home and away season and with the Thunder also winless from their two matches, Cartwright said there was an opportunity to “turn the tide”.
“For both our teams, in a 10-game season you can’t afford to have a lackadaisical approach,” he said.
“You basically have to go out there all guns blazing early doors because you want to get on top of the game early … you see Brisbane Heat have won all the games so far, Perth Scorchers are in a similar boat, so for both of us we’ll be vying for the same thing.
“Hopefully we can get a few more results that way and turn the tide tomorrow.”
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Cartwright said both sides were uncertain of how the pitch would play, but it looked to him to be a batter-friendly surface.
The Thunder hosted the Hobart Hurricanes in the first ever BBL game at Albury last New Year’s Eve and posted 228 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
“I’m a terrible one for understanding how wickets play, but it looks beautiful,” he said.
“We could get out there and it could play all sorts of tricks, or it could play exactly how I see it – I see it as a 200-plus wicket.
“But I’m a terrible umpire and I’m a terrible pitch analyst, so I wouldn’t go to the bank on my views.”
The powerfully built West Australian leads the Stars’ run-scoring with 57 off 34 balls over his two innings, but said he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he was contributing to team success.
“I’m obviously happy with my own form, but when you’re walking off and you’ve beaten pretty badly in two games, it doesn’t sit too well,” Cartwright said.
Fellow former Test cricketer Joe Burns also returns to the Stars’ squad in Albury after he was ruled out of the Scorchers loss due to illness.
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