Melbourne Stars opener Marcus Stoinis has been named the Big Bash League’s player of the tournament after topping the run-scoring charts for the season.
Stoinis plundered 607 runs at 60.7 in the BBL regular season. He only needs another 26 runs to set a new record for the most in a single campaign. The award was voted on by umpires after each regular season game.
Despite that effort, The Daily Telegraph report he is unlikely to make Australia’s Twenty20 squad in South Africa as he is seen as a specialist top-order batsman — Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith are all locks in the top three.
Looking to force his way back into the Australia side, Stoinis has had a campaign to remember for the Stars, capped off by his unbeaten 147 against the Sydney Sixers, which is the highest score in BBL history.
That was one of six times Stoinis passed 50 in the tournament as he powered the Stars to a top spot finish in the regular season.
The Stars will be hoping for at least one — ideally two — more special performances from the 30-year-old.
The Melbourne side must beat the Sydney Thunder in Thursday night’s ‘challenger’ match to make Saturday’s final against the Sydney Sixers, who beat them by 43 runs in ‘the qualifier’.
The Stars, who had three players picked in the team of the season, have lost their past four games but have reason to be confident after beating the Thunder in both their meetings in the regular season.
Stoinis picked up 26 votes, beating the Sydney Sixers’ Tom Curran by two and the Thunder’s Alex Hales by 23 votes.
BBL Player of the Tournament Leaderboard
- Marcus Stoinis — 26 votes
- Tom Curran — 24 votes
- Alex Hales — 23 votes
- Jon Wells — 22 votes
- Glenn Maxwell — 21 votes
- D’Arcy Short — 21 votes
- Rashid Khan — 18 votes
- Chris Lynn — 17 votes
- Josh Philippe — 17 votes
- Callum Ferguson — 16 votes
Sourced via Fox Sports.
