Dunk’s T20 makeover on road to greatness

“He’s a multiskilled player, he keeps, he bowls off-spin, he fields really well, he’s got long levers, he plays with a smile on his face and he has the ability to hit a lot of boundaries,” Woodhill said.

“It’s more around batspeed and the lateness of hitting and Dunky with his levers is in the same sort of mould as Kevin Pietersen, they manage to hit the ball up and aerial very well.

“I’ll throw a lot of balls to Ben and really work out where his structures lie, his movements lie and I’ll make sure he’s loading up on what he does well. I won’t introduce anything new to him now.

“If you look at our opposition Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn, their strengths are that they’re true to their game.

“That’s the biggest thing you can impart on them, making sure they’re true to their game and they’re not trying to tinker, because under pressure that just falls apart.”

That includes keeping Dunk in his deserved position in the batting order, revealing to the Cairns Post he would open the batting, ending speculation just where he would fit in the talent-packed Stars line-up.

“I can’t seen why he wouldn’t. Unless things change, that’s what we’ll be doing,” Woodhill said. Dunk has yet to hit his straps in the partnership, missing out in three practice matches, a blip he dismissed as “irrelevant” this week.

What matters is what happens starting tonight against the Heat, against who he boasts an incredible average of 43.25 across 10 matches.

“I think I’m hitting the ball really well. We’ve only played three games and I probably haven’t got the runs I would have liked but T20 is a funny game and all you need is something to go right for you and get the ball in the middle of the bat,” Dunk said.

“Brisbane’s been a happy hunting ground for me recently so hopefully I can start the tournament really well.”

But despite his reputation, the pressure is on in BBL07 as he goes into 2018 without an international T20 league contract.