Marcus Stoinis's blistering fifty, well aided by skipper Glenn Maxwell's quickfire 39 and Adam Zampa's miserly 2-10 helped Melbourne Stars make it two wins in as many games as they successfully defended 169 against Sydney Thunder at the Manuka Oval in Canberra in the first of Saturday's double-header.

After missing out Stars' opening match, Stoinis wasted no time whatsoever and raced to a 29-ball fifty on a track that only got difficult to score runs on as the game progressed. He got off the mark in BBL 2020-21 with a six straight down the ground off just the third ball of the game, and never looked back. fun88 Betting Tips He laid into Chris Green with a boundary-filled third over that went for 17 before picking three more boundaries in the powerplay off Nathan McAndrew, on either side of fellow opener Andre Fletcher's dismissal.

Stoinis then joined hands with Maxwell to put on a quick 56-run stand for the second wicket, taking Stars to 56/1 after their powerplay and registering his own half-century in the eighth over. Jonathan Cook got Thunder the big breakthrough when he induced an outside edge off Stoinis, cutting short the opener's fluent knock on 61, that included two sixes and half a dozen fours.

Maxwell himself struck four boundaries in his 29-ball 39, pushing Stars to 133/4 in the 15th over before his dismissal. However, a late collapse, starting with Maxwell, saw Stars losing five wickets for 34 runs to be restricted to only 166 from their allotted overs.

Thunder were solid at start in their chase of 167, but being behind the asking rate meant they lost the Bash Boost point despite a fine half-century from their skipper, Callum Ferguson. Liam Hatcher and Adam Zampa were stars with the ball, sharing five wickets between them in their miserly spells that further sucked the momentum off the chase. Consequently, Thunder could manage only 147 in reply.

Usman Khawaja was a victim of lack of DRS, adjudged caught behind off an attempted lap short that, replays confirmed, was coming off the pad. A flurry of dots that followed the wicket ensured Stars took control. Today Match Prediction Alex Hales and Ferguson put on 69 for the second wicket, but the duo's departure in the space of 25 runs saw Thunder fall considerably behind. Alex Ross's 18 was the best score among all batsmen from No. 4 and below.

Zampa showed just why he remains one of Australia's finest spinning assets as he gave away only 10 runs in his four overs, conceding no boundary whatsoever and as many as 15 dots to keep Thunder well short of the mark.

Brief scores: Melbourne Stars 169/8 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 61, Glenn Maxwell 39; Daniel Sams 2-24) beat Sydney Thunder 147/9 in 20 overs (Callum Ferguson 54, Alex Hales 46; Liam Hatcher 3-28, Adam Zampa 2-10) by 22 runs.e