Melbourne Stars skipper, Glenn Maxwell reacted quickly to douse out a bushfire near the team hotel at Launceston before their game against the Hobart Hurricanes. Maxwell’s teammate, Dale Steyn put out a story on his Instagram account, which is when everyone became aware of it.
Via the Instagram story of @DaleSteyn62: Glenn Maxwell to the rescue! The @StarsBBL skipper had a bizarre pre-game interruption in Launceston 🧯 #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/uN0PZ82UVl
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 30, 2019
According to Maxwell, him and Steyn were seated at the reception of the hotel when they saw smoke emanating from nearby. They ran out to check what it was and discovered that a small bush had caught fire. Maxwell then immediately looked for a fire extinguisher while Steyn called the fire brigade. Thankfully, the Aussie star was able to put it out before it caused major damage.
.@Gmaxi_32 and @DaleSteyn62's game-day preparation took a turn in Launceston yesterday 😳 #BBL09 | @BKTtires pic.twitter.com/hA7VvZ12wm
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 30, 2019
Bushfires have been a problem in Australia for quite some time, and especially more so this year, where some people have lost their lives too. A Big Bash League game between the Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers last Saturday at the Manuka Oval in Canberra was abandoned due to bushfires.
The situation had got so bad that the umpires stopped the game due to poor visibility and they could smell the smog, which had apparently become six times worse than the normal limit.
Meanwhile, the game between Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes also saw an intervention from the weather gods. Several rain interruptions meant that the game was reduced to just 11 overs a side.
Hobart batted first and were able to put up just 69-5, Caleb Jewell being the highest scorer with 26. In response, the Melbourne Stars raced to 55-3 in 7.3 overs before the rain stopped the game yet again.
Eventually, the match could not be resumed and the Stars won the game by virtue of being four runs ahead of the DLS target, courtesy Marcus Stoinis’ early burst and Peter Handscomb’s hitting down the order.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @BBL
