Cameron White complained about a laser being shined in his eyes from the crowd before demolishing Melbourne Renegades’ bowling attack in Saturday night’s BBL derby clash.
Stars’ captain White smashed an unbeaten 84 off 49 balls as the visitors claimed a nine-wicket win by reaching 1-167 off 16.2 overs in reply to the Renegades’ 5-163.
White, who was dropped twice in the first six overs, raced to his half-century off 29 balls.
Glenn Maxwell and White hit 26 including four sixes off the 13th over of the innings, bowled by spinner Aaron O’Brien.
Maxwell (58 off 28 balls) and White added an unbroken 98-run stand for the second wicket as the Stars continued their unbeaten run this season after four matches while the Renegades suffered their third loss in five games.
Fit-again former Test quick James Pattinson (0-37 off 3.2 overs) suffered heavy punishment after taking seven wickets in his previous two outings.
Renegades’ captain Aaron Finch won the toss and blasted an unbeaten 84 in his side’s 5-163.
Finch’s 55-ball innings included a top-edged shot which hit the roof at Etihad Stadium and was called a six as the record crowd of over 42,000 roared their approval.
Opener Finch and Tom Cooper (60 off 44 balls) rescued the Renegades’ innings from 3-17 as they shared a 102-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Finch hit 6-4-6-6-2-1 as he helped himself to 25 runs from the final over of the innings bowled by Clint McKay (0-50 off four overs).
It was Finch’s third half-century in five BBL matches this summer.
Jackson Bird (3-24) had earlier ripped through the home side’s top order with three wickets in four balls of the second over of the match.
The Stars boast a two-nil derby record this summer.
Saturday night’s crowd of 42,837 is a record for cricket at Etihad Stadium and it’s the third-highest for an Australia domestic T20 game.
The record figure is the 46,581 fans who attended the Stars-Renegades derby at the MCG in January 2013.