Sammy stars in BBL debut, baby

Darren Sammy enjoyed his Big Bash League debut so much, he felt like renaming the tournament.

The West Indian allrounder made a stunning first impression on Saturday night as the Hobart Hurricanes rallied from a shaky start to dominate the Melbourne Stars at the MCG.

Sammy was named man of the match as the Hurricanes won their opening game by 52 runs and handed the Stars their second-straight loss.

“It’s not the Big Bash – it’s the BBLB,” he said.

“It means Big Bash League, Baby.

“That’s what it is all about – having fun.”

Sammy had ample fun at the Stars’ expense.

He smashed 26 off Daniel Worrall in the second-last over of the innings and finished with an unbeaten 38 from only 12 balls.

Sammy also took a running catch – the ball nearly slipped through his fingers – to help claim the crucial wicket of Stars captain Cameron White for 62.

He will be with the Hurricanes for only half the tournament, before going into a West Indian training camp.

So Sammy was determined to have an immediate impact.

“It’s important that I stamp my authority, show what I’m about early,” he said.

“It’s a tournament I want to be a part of until I retire.”

By contrast, the Stars are struggling to have any sort of impact this summer after making all three BBL semi-finals.

But captain White remains confident.

“We’re obviously behind the eight-ball now, but it’s not the end of the world,” he said.

“You can get on a roll in this sort of format.”

White defended his decision to only give left-arm spinner Michael Beer two overs, but admitted it was a toss-up whether Worrall was going to bowl that fateful second-last over.

“You take a bit of feedback on board and it turns out I made the wrong call,” White said.

While the Stars are struggling, he said it would be folly to change their plans of taking a short break over Christmas.

“To change it all around and panic would be a stupid move, in my opinion,” he said.

Melbourne’s next match is away against Brisbane on December 28.

White admitted that allrounder Marcus Stoinis might miss the whole tournament as he recovers from finger surgery.

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