Stars receive Lamichhane boost

The Melbourne Stars have received a big boost ahead of their penultimate regular season game of BBL|08, with the inclusion of international spinner Sandeep Lamichhane.

Lamichhane comes into the Stars' 13-man squad to tackle the Heat at the Gabba on Friday as a direct replacement for fellow import Liam Plunkett, who is scheduled to meet up with England's ODI team in the Caribbean.

The Stars enter Friday's clash needing a victory to ensure a place in the finals, while the Heat can still sneak into the top four if they prevail and have other results go their way over the weekend.

The return of Lamichhane will have Stars fans excited, following the Nepalese spinner's excellent start to the KFC Big Bash season this year.

Lamichhane didn't waste any time on making an impact in Melbourne and on the Big Bash, with the 18-year-old picking up eight wickets from four matches for the Stars before he headed to the Bangladesh Premier League.

He experienced mixed fortunes in Bangladesh during six matches for the Sylhet Sixers, with his haul of four wickets offset by an extremely impressive economy rate of 5.66.

If the Stars fail to beat the Heat they can still play finals, but would need to win their final regular season contest of the season against the second-placed Sydney Sixers on Sunday.

The Heat have also made one change to their squad, with paceman Brendan Doggett winning a recall in place of batsman Sam Heazlett in what could be the final Big Bash game for veteran Kiwi Brendon McCullum.

Earlier this week, McCullum announced he would leave the Heat at the end of the season and the only chance of prolonging his Big Bash career would be with a victory over the Stars.

If the Heat can triumph, they would then require the Hobart Hurricanes to defeat the Sydney Thunder on Saturday and the Sixers to beat the Stars on Sunday.

Heat: Chris Lynn (c), Max Bryant, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Lalor, Brendon McCullum, James Peirson, Jack Prestwidge, Matt Renshaw, Alex Ross, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson

Stars: Glenn Maxwell (c), Jackson Bird, Dwayne Bravo, Jackson Coleman, Ben Dunk, Seb Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sandeep Lamichhane, Nic Maddinson, Marcus Stoinis, Dan Worrall, Adam Zampa