Winless Stars must not panic: Faulkner

JAMES Faulkner says it is too early for the winless Melbourne Stars to panic as the green team looks to shake up its bowling plans against Brisbane Heat’s ‘Bash Brothers’ at the MCG tonight.

Ageing superstar Kevin Pietersen will take Pete Handscomb’s place at No. 3 and the Stars are also considering playing left-arm legspinner Liam Bowe, 20.

Bendigo product Bowe, nicknamed ‘The Wizard’ because of his resem- blance to Harry Potter, was eligible to replace Handscomb in the Stars’ squad because the batsman must stay with the Australian Test team.

The Stars, who are closing in on 10,000 members, have lost their past four matches against the Heat and Faulkner yesterday said they would look to take pace off the ball to counteract ‘Bash Brothers’ Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn.

Lynn’s strike-rate is much lower against spin bowling and Stars’ leggie Adam Zampa told teammates he was the man to remove Lynn before last month’s clash at the Gabba.

But Lynn withdrew with a tight hamstring as Brisbane comfortable beat the Stars without their six machine for the second time in a row.

“We need to have a win, 0-2 is not a great start,” Faulkner said.

“But there’s so many games left, so it’s not panic stations.”

Faulkner has taken the new ball in the first two games and, along with Michael Beer and Marcus Stoinis, has been one of the few shining lights.

All-rounder Stoinis struck 99 against Brisbane and Mitchell Johnson recently put him in touch with bowling legend Dennis Lillee, who has helped tinker with his run up.

Stars bowling coach Mick Lewis said they have discussed using all their bowling options in the six-over powerplay.

“Over the first couple of games we’ve been quite structured with our bowling, especially our first three or four overs,” Lewis said. “Now it’s time to be a bit more unpredictable.”