Stars brace for bolstered Scorchers

With a home Big Bash League semi-final up for grabs, the Melbourne Stars will take on a Perth Scorchers line-up bolstered by the returns of Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile at the MCG on Wednesday night.

Both sides have secured semi-final berths going into the final round of the regular season, but the third-placed Stars can displace the Scorchers in second spot with a big win – either by 35 runs or by reaching the Scorchers’ total with five overs to spare.

After the Stars lost their opening three games of the season, they will take the momentum of a four-game winning streak into the pivotal match-up.

After comfortably accounting for the Sydney Thunder at their last start, the Stars have stuck with the same 13-man squad, while Perth coach Justin Langer is delighted to be able to call on Marsh and Coulter-Nile for the first time this season.

“They’re two seasoned campaigners,” Langer said.

“They’re internationals and it’s nice to have such quality of players coming back into the squad.”

Marsh is returning from international duties with the Test team, while Coulter-Nile has recovered from a hamstring injury.

Langer said his side had prepared well for the match and were intent on extending their current winning streak to four games.

“We’d love to come back to The Furnace [for a semi-final],” he said.

“We know how enjoyable it is to play there and the crowd really gets behind the guys.

“We’ve played a lot of cricket on that wicket, so it’s an important game for lots of reasons.”

Melbourne Stars: Cameron White (c), Michael Beer, Jackson Bird, Scott Boland, Luke Feldman, Peter Handscomb, John Hastings, Alex Keath, Clint McKay, Kevin Pietersen, Rob Quiney, Tom Triffitt, Luke Wright.

Perth Scorchers: Adam Voges (c), Ashton Agar, Yasir Arafat, Jason Behrendorff, Michael Carberry, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Marcus Harris, Brad Hogg, Michael Klinger, Shaun Marsh, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman.

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