Melbourne Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell says the players are "cooked" but will carry on battling away to keep their BBL11 dream alive.
The Stars are priced at 10/1 to win the Big Bash League and gave their top-five hopes a big boost with a six-wicket win over the Melbourne Renegades on Thursday night.
Star Maxwell performance
It has been a tough few weeks for the Stars, like most in the BBL, as players have come down with sickness, and Maxwell himself has been affected.
However he returned to the side on Thursday night to blast an unbeaten 68 runs which earned him the man-of-the-match award and moved the Stars to fifth on the ladder.
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Speaking after the win Maxwell admitting the patched-up side are finding it hard but will continue to fight on while they have a chance of winning BBL11.
"The guys are cooked, there's no secret about that," he told reporters. "We're all tired, we're all holding on to get through this tournament.
"But we're really proud and we want to put our best foot forward. We want to perform. Once we get out onto the ground, we put all that aside and go our hardest, then deal with the fatigue afterwards."
Not 100 percent
Maxwell also admitted he is not fully fit and was feeling the effects of his match-winning innings after the game.
"We feel like we've been thrown around a little bit," he added. "It was a hard place to be, but, to the boys' credit they've kept their heads up, they've tried their backsides off.
"I was hit pretty hard with it, I was pretty ill for a few days.
"It just takes you a while to get full fitness, even out there, I felt with the heat and humidity that it affected you a lot more."
