Stars playing 'terrible' Big Bash League cricket

Maxwell described nine-wicket loss to Brisbane Heat as ‘putrid’

Fringe Australian spinner Steve O’Keefe ruled out of season with ankle injury

Glenn Maxwell savaged a “putrid” performance from the Melbourne Stars after they fell to a third-straight BBL defeat on Tuesday night.

The much-hyped Stars were no match for Brisbane Heat, slumping to a nine-wicket loss at the MCG to remain anchored at the bottom of the ladder.

Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum put on a 101-run stand as the Heat cruised to victory after restricting the Stars to just 141.

With the returning Kevin Pietersen out for 30, Maxwell top-scored for the winless Stars with 50 off 39 balls.

But the allrounder made no secret of his frustration after the game, calling on the team’s leaders to step up and describing his own failure to score freely as “embarrassing”.

“We were putrid today,” he said. “We’re lucky it’s a longer competition this year where we’ve got at least seven more opportunities ... mathematically, we could still finish top, so I guess that’s a positive.

“But the way we’re going at the moment, we’re not looking like going anywhere but bottom.

“We’re playing terrible cricket. We’re not probably playing together as a team ... we haven’t even got close to putting together a full game, which is what you need to do in T20 cricket.”

Skipper John Hastings was among the Stars’ worst performers, making a duck and then dropping a sitter at mid-off in the first over to hand master-blaster Lynn a second life.

The Stars host crosstown rivals Melbourne Renegades on Saturday night and will be tempted to make changes to their line-up.

Young spinner Liam Bowe took the Stars’ only wicket after earning a call-up against the Heat, while Seb Gotch and Jackson Coleman are among those waiting in the wings.

Maxwell said Hastings needed more support from his teammates but added that some change was necessary.

“I’m not a part of the selection committee with this at all but we probably have to change something,” Maxwell said.

“We’re not winning games of cricket so you can’t just keep moseying along.”

Meanwhile, Steve O’Keefe’s bid to return to the Australian cricket fold has been dashed by an ankle injury which will rule him out for the rest of the BBL season.

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The Sydney Sixers spinner has been diagnosed with a high-grade ankle sprain suffered while fielding during the loss to Perth Scorchers on Monday and will undergo surgery.

“Steve will miss the BBL but is hopeful of returning during the second half of the Sheffield Shield season,” Cricket NSW doctor John Orchard said on Wednesday.

O’Keefe was in April banned from this year’s domestic one-day cup and fined $20,000 by Cricket Australia for making offensive comments, only nine months after receiving another fine for an incident at a Sydney pub.

But it didn’t stop him being picked as Australia’s third spinner – alongside Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar – for the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong in September.

O’Keefe missed out on being called into Australia’s squad for the fifth Ashes Test starting on Thursday at the SCG, with fellow left-arm finger spinner Agar getting the nod. O’Keefe also missed out on a CA central contract for the 2017-18 season.

In the Sixers’ clash with Adelaide at the SCG last week, O’Keefe was bizarrely not called to the bowling crease by skipper Johan Botha as they fell to another defeat.

Spinner Soumil Chhibber has replaced O’Keefe in the Sixers squad for their encounter with the Melbourne Renegades in Geelong on Wednesday.

Daniel Hughes, who was a late withdrawal from the clash with the Scorchers due to a quad strain, is a chance to return as the Sixers aim for their first win of the campaign following four losses.