Overview
The last game of Round 7 brings a desperate Hobart Hurricanes to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they simply must beat the home team, the Melbourne Stars, to announce themselves as semi-final contenders.

The Stars have been the standout team of BBL|03, remaining unbeaten in six starts and winning away in Sydney and Brisbane, as well as taking both Big Melbourne Derbies. And they’ve got top-performing players throughout their squad, too, with no less than nine Stars featuring in one or several of the Most Runs, Fastest Scorers, Best [Batting] Average, Most Sixes, Highest Score, Most Wickets, Best Bowling, and Most Catches lists.

Matthew Wade’s good form has been recognised with a call-up to the Australian ODI side, where he’ll deputise for a resting Brad Haddin in the final two games of the one-day series against England, on Friday and Sunday.

The Hurricanes welcome back playing assistant coach, Dimitri Mascarenhas, who has recovered from a broken jaw after being struck while batting in a pre-season game. Mascarenhas and Hurricanes coach, Damien Wright, were both at the Stars in BBL|02, coincidentally, with Hobart intending to use their inside knowledge of the opposition to gain a slight advantage.

England international Owais Shah has been left out of the 13-man squad after struggling for runs in five BBL matches this summer.

Key Battle: Lasith Malinga v Ben Laughlin
Two of the most influential ‘death bowlers’ in the shortest form of the great game of cricket, both Malinga and Laughlin shape as crucial for the way their respective sides close out a bowling innings, or should the case arise, peg back an opposition batting side on a roll. Malinga has been a bit down in terms of raw wicket-taking in BBL|03, but no-less important to the Stars’ undefeated run thus far. Laughlin is the Hurricanes’ leading wicket-taker, and his worth at the back-end of an innings was highlighted no better than his superb 3-8 from three over in Hobart’s last home game, against the Sydney Thunder.

Dark Horse: Jackson Bird
Fresh from being rewarded with a return to the Australian Test squad for the South African tour, Bird has been at or near the top of the Most Wickets list for the entirety of BBL|03, while also having one of the best economy and strike rates of frontline bowlers for the tournament. The Hurricanes’ top order has had an up-and-down time throughout the tournament, and Bird will be a major threat to their being able to get off to a good start.

Last Time
December 15, 2012 @ MCG: Ricky Ponting’s first domestic game after his Test retirement didn’t lead to the big innings he craved, his scalp the first of three early Hurricanes wickets. Tim Paine and George Bailey mounted something of a rescue mission, but after they departed, regular Hobart wickets kept their total to 8-134. Clint McKay finished with 3-25 from his four overs.

Despite losing Luke Wright early themselves, Rob Quiney and Brad Hodge steadied the Stars, with Cameron White almost seeing the chase home. The Stars reached 6-135 with five balls to spare.

Squads
Stars: Cameron White ©, Jackson Bird, Scott Boland, Peter Handscomb, John Hastings, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Alex Keath, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), James Muirhead, Rob Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Luke Wright (England)

Hurricanes: Tim Paine (c), Travis Birt, Aiden Blizzard, Doug Bollinger, Cameron Boyce, Ben Dunk, Evan Gulbis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Shoaib Malik, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Joe Mennie, Jon Wells.

Facts and Figures
Race to the semi-finals: If the Stars win, they will be guaranteed a home semi-final. The Hurricanes need to win both their remaining games in BBL|03 to secure a place in the finals, but should they drop their match against the Stars, they could still qualify by defeating Brisbane in the final round.

Unsurprisingly given their undefeated status, the Stars have conceded the least runs in the competition at an average of 134.5 per innings. The Strikers (136.75) and Scorchers (147.3) sit behind the Stars. Hobart can be encouraged by the fact they’ve averaged 161.4 in their five innings in BBL|03, and that only five games have been lost by teams making more than 161. If the Hurricanes can make their par, they’ll give themselves every chance.

The Stars are the only undefeated team this season, but they still have yet to win one thing – the toss. They won their first two games batting first, and have won their last three chasing a target, proving both how versatile and how balance a side they are currently.

Ben Dunk has rocketed up this season’s leading run scorers list on the back of his tournament high score of 96 last round against the Thunder. The ex-Queensland wicketkeeper now sits fourth on most runs scored this season (231 runs) as an opening batsman for the Hurricanes and could overtake third-placed Hussey (237 runs) given the Thunder don’t play this round. In fact, Dunk is only 31 runs off Aaron Finch atop the list, and given the Renegades skipper is now on national duty, his place at the top could overrun in the next few games.

Broadcast: from 7:30pm AEDT on Channel Ten, and on Fairfax Radio Network.

Source: www.bigbash.com.au