KP says BBL Stars must stop panicking

Jan 4, 2017 - 6:12 PM Kevin Pietersen says Melbourne Stars must remove the panic from their game if they are to be a force in this season's BBL.

Stars are off to their traditional tardy start with a 1-2 record following successive losses to Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder.

They are down in sixth in the standings, but have played fewer games than all the teams above them bar Renegades, who they meet at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Stars looked in control for long stretches of Wednesday's game in Sydney, but lost the plot in the closing overs of both innings.

They lost 5-16 inside their last five overs following a swashbuckling 60 off 37 balls from Pietersen and brisk cameos from openers Glenn Maxwell and Luke Wright.

Thunder needed a massive 22 off the last seven balls, but secured an improbable win by hitting three of them for six.

"The team that panics first in T20 cricket loses,'" Pietersen said.

"If we keep panicking, we're not going to get anywhere this season, we've just got to put the panic away."

He felt Stars had been guilty of the same problem in the previous game against Renegades, when they lost three wickets in an over to run outs.

The Stars lost that match on the Duckworth-Lewis method, a system Pietersen feels needs to be revised for the T20 format.

"I think Duckworth-Lewis is a waste of space in T20 cricket, it needs to be rewritten," Pietersen said.

"The way that we lost two overs and only 11 runs was nonsense.

"I think they need to come up with a new system for it, because one-day cricket does not fit with T20 cricket in terms of the Duckworth Lewis, ,it's nonsense, it's rubbish."

Pietersen was adamant he would be fit for Saturday's game despite not fielding against Thunder due to a slight groin issue.

He stressed he enjoyed a good relationship with Australian selector and occasional TV commentary colleague Mark Waugh, despite making some unflattering remarks about his selection credentials on air last week.

'It wasn't stick, it was just chit-chat mess-about banter, it's 100 per cent friend;y banter," Pietersen said.

" I was with him here (in Sydney on Wednesday) and we chatted a good 10, 15 minutes, it's nothing.

"I love Junior. (Waugh) I respect him."

Source: AAP