Andre Russell Set For BBL Return With Melbourne Stars

West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell is set to return to the Big Bash League (BBL) after being signed up by the Melbourne Stars for a 5-match stint in the eleventh edition of the league.

Russell previously played for the Sydney Thunder in 2017 for a total of three seasons before he was disbarred from the sport for a year due to three doping violations. He hadn’t returned to Australia until now.

The 33-year-old Russell will be available for the Stars from their first home game against Sydney Thunder at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on December 10.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries, a lot of guys yet to turn up,” captain Glenn Maxwell said after the match. It’s just put us behind where we would like to be for round one, but you can’t win the tournament from round one.”

“We’re hoping (Marcus Stoinis) is going to be back next week. We’ve got (Nathan) Coulter-Nile, Joe Burns, Qais Ahmad … another overseas signing (Russell), so we’ve got plenty of options,” Stars’ captain Glenn Maxwell said.

Russell is undergoing a 72-hour quarantine period at the moment having just landed in Sydney. The Caribbean all-rounder is coming off of a great outing in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, having struck a 32-ball 90 in the final of the league on Saturday.

Melbourne Stars squad for BBL 11:

Qais Ahmad, Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Joe Clarke, Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sam Elliott, Syed Faridoun, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchcliffe, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Peter Nevill, Tom O’Connell, Sam Rainbird, Marcus Stoinis, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa, Haris Rauf, Andre Russell.

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