When Kevin Pietersen became the most wanted cricketer in the world, the Melbourne Stars were initially coy about their interest in him, but now they are firming as the most likely Australian home for the former England star.
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Since Pietersen was sacked by England in February, the Stars have been quietly plotting to entice him to the MCG. They are not the only team to covet the charismatic batsman, as the boards of Big Bash teams weigh up whether to take a punt on a difficult personality but a proven match-winner. The Stars' local rival, the Melbourne Renegades, were the first to register their interest in Pietersen and chief executive Stuart Coventry says they are still in the hunt.
Presumably, whoever gets him will not make the same mistakes as Sydney Thunder did when it splurged a quarter of the salary cap on Chris Gayle at the inception of the BBL. Gayle serves as a cautionary tale. The decision backfired when he struggled for runs in a losing team, and the experience did nothing for the team dynamic, as he was given luxury accommodation in the city and a flash car while others stayed in the Rooty Hill RSL and got around in a shared mini-van.
Pietersen's diary is filling up with freelance gigs; he has entered the draft for the Caribbean Premier League and will play for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League for $1.6 million.
No team can make a serious play for Pietersen until a Cricket Australia embargo period ends. But the Stars are keen, and Brad Hodge's impending move to Adelaide will free up space in the cap.
They have a history of attracting big stars (and their egos), with Shane Warne taking centre stage for the first two seasons. And outgoing chairman of selectors Ian Chappell has written that it reflected poorly on England captain Alastair Cook if one of the team's best players was set adrift because he was too difficult to manage.
Cook, though, has spoken of his frustration at not being able to tell his side of the story after the Ashes disaster. ''There will be a time in the not too distant future when I can give you the whole side of my story but I hope you can bear with that a little longer,'' Cook said.
''Of course you have to think back and ask if it was the right decision given all that was going on. But in my mind I know it is the right decision. It was a brave call and people have been talking as if it just happened overnight.
''The last thing we wanted to do was make Kevin a scapegoat for what happened in Australia. That is not what it was about at all. But at a time you have to say this is what we want going forward and that was the decision we made. For people to say it was a decision made on a toss of a coin is wrong and I think very disrespectful to those who made the decision because a lot of effort in the first place went into getting him back in the side in 2012. A lot of effort and thought went into making the decision.''
Meantime, Cricket Australia has pointed out it did defend the Stars against allegations of salary cap rorting in February, after Ian Chappell suggested otherwise in resigning from his roles at the BBL team. ''There is absolutely nothing to suggest any BBL team is in breach of the salary cap,'' league boss Mike McKenna said at the time. ''Cricket Australia, through our integrity unit, takes compliance with the salary cap and additional services agreements very seriously and applies the same standards across the league regardless of the player or team.''
Chappell was angry that Tim Paine was not disciplined under the code of conduct for making the allegations and said CA had not leapt to the Stars' defence.
