An explosive knock from veteran left-hand batsman Rob Quiney has helped Melbourne Stars cruise to a seven-wicket victory in their first game of the BBL season in Hobart.
Set a target of 189 for victory at Bellerive Oval on Monday the Stars opener belted 75 against the Hobart Hurricanes, including five boundaries and five sixes, with the visitors reaching 3-191 with two overs to spare.
Quiney first found support from international allrounder Luke Wright (48) and then No.3 Glenn Maxwell (58 not out), before England Test paceman Stuart Broad (2-35) snared him as his first BBL scalp.
But healthy contributions from the Stars' first three batsmen meant the visitors needed just 29 runs from the last five overs for victory.
Skipper David Hussey (one) couldn't see out the innings, with James Faulkner (0 not out) joining Maxwell in the middle to seal the deal.
The result didn't do justice to a gallant effort by Hurricanes skipper and opener Tim Paine (91).
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Paine survived the loss of early cheap wickets to join with No.5 George Bailey (74 not out) for a 145-run partnership.
Paine's knock - including 11 boundaries and a six - produced his highest BBL score.
Bailey was also entertaining, clearing the boundary four times.
"Credit where credit is due. This is wonderful T20 batting," former Stars international Kevin Pietersen tweeted, as the hosts finished at 4-188.
Former Hurricanes paceman Ben Hilfenhaus (3-38) did the most damage.
Glenn Maxwell (1-12) dismissed Kumar Sangakkara (15).
"(It is) nice to contribute with the bat and ball," Maxwell said after play.
Despite chasing a large target Maxwell said the Stars remained positive at the changeover, partly thanks to the quick outfield.
"As soon as you got the ball over the ring it seemed to gain pace and skip off the outfield, it never really held up or stopped so made it a lot easier with the run chase to know that if you got it over the infield you most probably had a boundary," he said.
Paine said the loss of early wickets for Hobart, mixed with a below par bowling performance hurt the Hurricanes.
"We would have liked to get over 200 (runs) but our first six (overs) probably cost us with the bat and then we didn't execute well enough with the ball," the skipper said.
"We were disappointed with the way we bowled."
