BBL|15 is coming with clubs finalising their squads plus availability and injury timelines becoming clearer, enabling us to start predicting Round 1 line-ups.
Ins/Outs
Ins: Mitch Swepson (Brisbane Heat), Liam Hatcher (Sydney Thunder), Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Tom Whitney (Brisbane Heat)
Outs: Beau Webster (Hobart Hurricanes), Joel Paris (Perth Scorchers), Ben Duckett, Usama Mir, Adam Milne, Brody Couch (Perth Scorchers)
Draft Insights
The Stars clearly wanted to improve their bowling line-up and did that with Haris Rauf’s retention, despite the Strikers making a bid at pick 2. They’ve also gone for continuity with Joe Clarke and Tom Curran being with them previously, albeit the Stars haven’t seen their best.
Squad (18)
Batsmen: Hilton Cartwright, Campbell Kellaway, Tom Rogers, Joe Clarke* (wk), Sam Harper (wk)
All-rounders: Tom Curran*, Glenn Maxwell, Jono Merlo, Marcus Stoinis
Bowlers: Austin Anlezark, Scott Boland, Liam Hatcher, Hamish McKenzie, Haris Rauf*, Peter Siddle, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson, Tom Whitney
Melbourne Stars Round 1 XI
It’s hard to see the Stars mixing up the formula too much, especially after a strong finish to BBL|14 which saw them surge into finals.
Their top 3 is unconvincing after Ben Duckett and Beau Webster’s exits, but they’ve drafted English wicketkeeper-batsman Joe Clarke for a reason, to lead the top order. There’s a dilemma for his opening partner, where it could be any of Tom Rogers, Campbell Kellaway or Sam Harper. Harper’s excellent One-Day Cup form is likely enough to earn him another shot. Kellaway has played a bit of 50-over cricket in the top 3 for Victoria, so that may be an option especially after recent red-ball success.
It’s otherwise hard to anticipate any changes to their middle order with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright followed by all-rounder Tom Curran. After some injury worries, Maxwell bowled in 5 of 9 games last season, while Stoinis bowled in 9 of 11 taking 5 wickets from 25 overs.
The Stars retained Haris Rauf after a bid from the Adelaide Strikers and he’ll lead the attack, with veteran Peter Siddle and Liam Hatcher – who has been in good red ball form – to get the other spots. Mark Steketee will miss the entire season with a hamstring injury after he took 15 wickets in 6 games last season opening the door for cheapie Hatcher to play regularly, with Austin Anlezark and Tom Whitney back-up options. Scott Boland will be away with the Test squad.
The Stars went out and added a quality spinner like Mitch Swepson, hoping he can constrict and take wickets at the wide expanses of the MCG. He’ll be their preferred tweaker over Hamish McKenzie.
- J.Clarke (wk)
- C.Kellaway
- S.Harper
- G.Maxwell
- M.Stoinis (c)
- H.Cartwright
- T.Curran
- L.Hatcher
- M.Swepson
- Haris Rauf
- P.Siddle
1 thought on “Melbourne Stars predicted Round 1 line-up for BBL|15”