The Melbourne Stars now sit second on the BBL ladder with six wins and three losses, confirming their spot in the Big Bash finals later this month.

A presiding win over the Strikers saw Adelaide notch up their second lowest total in franchise history, bowled all out for 83 with just three balls remaining in their innings.

The dominant victory is once again raising questions about the volatile wicket the MCG has hosted over this summer of cricket.

Sports Breakfast spoke to former Australian and Victorian leg spinner Bryce McGain to talk the latest from the MCG.

“I know a lot has been said about the MCG pitch after the test match and how lively it was with ten mil of grass,” he said.

“The MCG just had a bit more pace and bounce and none of the Adelaide Strikers batters took the opportunity to settle in and get used to it, they just tried to hit their way out of it… It was a really poor game in the end.

“There is some responsibility on the batsmen… some of the outs were deplorable and some of the dismissals you go and look back at and think what were they doing, but it’s how they choose to play now.”

While McGain admitted the MCG pitch has proven tough for batsmen this summer, he claims players aren’t giving themselves a chance to play a few dot balls and get used to the wicket before whacking the ball around, leading to early dismissals all the way up the order.

Tom Curran shone last night, winning player of the match with four wickets for ten runs and taking the big wickets of Alex Carey and Chris Lynn.

The season has been rather tumultuous for the Melbourne Stars, starting their campaign off strong with four wins in a row, followed up by three straight losses.

They now find themselves in a promising position after two much needed wins.

“They were so hot early, they were playing with precision and competitiveness and they just competed for every ball. It was interesting, Glenn Maxwell had a bit of a chat publicly yesterday and was sharing I guess through that phase, he admitted that he was thinking maybe this was the year for the Stars… as soon as you start thinking too far ahead you take your eyes off what you need to do, what’s got you there in the first place,” said McGain.

“It’s largely led by Marcus Stoinis who is incredibly demanding on the field, we saw a couple of instances last night even when the game is petering out and they’re gonna bowl them out pretty cheaply, Peter Siddle is down signing autographs, Marcus Stoinis wasn’t too happy and said ‘hey, mind on the job there’s still work do be done out here’… it’s that sort of relentlessness that the Stars need where they’re holding everyone to account ball by ball.

“It’s not surprising that they’ve been able to turn it all around in the last couple of games.”

It wasn’t all positive for Melbourne, with Stars captain Marcus Stoinis retiring hurt with just two runs needed after copping a nasty hit to his thumb while batting.

“After the game he looked a lot calmer as he walked off, put some ice on it,” he said.

“He said to them he think it’ll be okay, it just gave him a bit of a scare because it’s only a handful of weeks until they start the world cup and he’s playing an important part in that middle order right now”

“A knock like that on your thumb could be a really big setback not only for him but for Australia’s campaign, he’s gonna play an important role in that world cup.”

The Stars head west to play the Scorchers on Saturday in their last game of the season with the second spot on the ladder up for grabs for either side, boasting the benefit of a double chance come finals time.

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