MelbourneWith just two games remaining the Stars are shining brightest and their eight-wicket demolition of Melbourne Renegades on Saturday evening continued a derby dominance which has the red team bleeding.
And if the Stars defeat the Brisbane Heat on Thursday evening, a finals position will be secured. Again the Gades look set to sit at home and grit their teeth, watching their cross-town rivals enter a fifth finals series from five seasons.
In two short weeks the green team has gone from freezing to sizzling, converting an 0-2 start to 4-2 after refusing to panic under cool new coach Stephen Fleming.
Earlier the Renegades batted first. Again they posted a competitive total. And again their pop-gun attack had it chased down with ease, having taken just 21 wickets all tournament.
The formula for Renegades games is simple bowl first and take the points. In their six games the side chasing has won all six with the red teams record defending as bad as James Hird is in a courtroom.
After a five-minute smoke delay on Saturday evening, the Stars batsmen smoked the Renegades. It was a tag team of momentum between in-form superstar Pietersen and Peter Handscomb and it was marvellous to watch.
The unbroken 92-run partnership was littered with crisp shots which the Gades attack fatally missing James Pattinson had few answers to.
When Handscomb entered it was KP playing the big shots and when the run-rate dipped it was Handscomb who stepped up to nab 11 runs off Cameron Stevensons second over.
Then, after another lull of runs, Pietersen pulled a poor Chris Tremain ball for six and drove a low full toss for four the next ball.
Pietersens 67 not out (off 43 balls) was filled with powerful yet technical stroke play and one slice of luck when Gades skipper Cam White and substitute fielder Ben McDermott left his skied mis-hit for each other and watched it bounce between them.
Then, it was Handscombs turn for a life when the keeper pulled a short ball and had Dwayne Bravo parry it over the rope for six.
The frustrating storyline for Chris Gayle also continued. After being cheered to the crease he started slowly, cracked two sixes and then departed with another unconverted start.
In six Renegades knocks, world crickets No. 1 T20 player is yet to reach 50 with his pattern of starting slowly, sending a batch of balls into orbit and then meekly holing out.
Instead it was Gayles compatriot Bravo who sparkled. When Bravo was joined by Tom Beaton at 5-78 the Gades looked beaten until a 66-run stand gave the red teams bowlers something to bowl at.
The Stars rise today equal with nemesis Perth Scorchers at 4-2, their final-round clash at the WACA increasingly likely to be for semi-final hosting rights.
The green team held an 18-run advantage from the power-plays and given it was chasing a modest total the Renegades season was cooked shortly after the innings-break smoke delay.
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