At the MCG, Stars captain Marcus Stoinis chose to bowl first, and Siddle’s 3 for 30 helped limit the Hurricanes to a lacklustre 158 for 9.
The Melbourne Stars defeated the defending BBL champions Hobart Hurricanes by eight wickets thanks to a classic performance by 41-year-old Peter Siddle.
After that, the Stars easily won, reaching 159 for 2 with 24 balls remaining. The captain finished the game with a six, and Stoinis (62* from 31 balls) and Campbell Kellaway (41* off 27) easily handled the chase.
Stoinis’ vicious knock and 2 for 18 earned him Player of the Match.
The Hurricanes’ win last summer made the Stars the only BBL team still without a championship, and they couldn’t have begun the season any better.
With his soft offspin, veteran matchwinner Glenn Maxwell opened the bowling and got rid of the threatening Mitch Owen with the game’s fourth ball. After Hilton Cartwright dropped a catch off the previous ball, Owen, who had smashed a remarkable century in the final of the previous season, holed out on the boundary.
The Hurricanes’ downfall began with that dismissal, and in the last eight balls of the innings, Siddle and fellow paceman Haris Rauf cleaned off the tail with 4 for 6.
Siddle, who played domestic cricket for the first time in 2005, returned to the Stars this season after taking 12 wickets in the 2024–2025 season. Despite ending his Victorian career last summer, the enduring 67-Test veteran, who retired from international cricket in 2019, has remained healthy for another BBL match. Before playing for the PM’s XI against England in Canberra last month, Siddle participated in a 10-over league in Canada in October.
“I just love competing and I don’t want to put out poor performances,” Siddle stated. “I’ve put a lot of effort into getting ready for this. Since I hadn’t played a legitimate competitive game in a while, I was a little anxious, so it was nice to get it over with. Since I only need to train to bowl four overs, the exercises I was performing with my Vics strength and conditioning trainer were highly customised.
Ben McDermott arrived at the crease in the second over and played a lone hand for the Hurricanes, making a solid 69. McDermott threatened to push Hobart to a competitive score by combining with Tim David. However, Siddle took David’s wicket during the powerplay, which led to the Hurricanes’ downfall.
Perhaps the greatest outfielder in the world, Maxwell, made another incredible catch as he assisted in dismissing Matthew Wade, a former Australia teammate. The challenging attempt appeared incredibly simple as the Stars’ master blaster leaped over the boundary rope and threw the ball back to himself.
The Stars will play the Strikers in Adelaide on Tuesday night, while Hobart will return to action on Sunday against the Melbourne Renegades in Geelong.
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