Sam Harper continued his brilliant Big Bash season as he guided Melbourne Stars to an eight-wicket win against Melbourne Renegades.

The 29-year-old made an unbeaten 81 to get Stars to their target of 167 with 25 balls to spare.

He hit eight fours and four sixes in his 51-ball knock and returned to the top of the run-scorers chart with 356, at an average of 89.

He put on 89 for the first wicket with Tom Rogers and then shared an unbroken 78 with Glenn Maxwell (20* off 12).

Earlier, Renegades posted 166-7 from their 20 overs with opener Josh Brown making 80 off 50 balls.

No other batter made it past 23 though and that left Renegades short of a competitive total.

Marcus Stoinis was the pick of the Stars bowlers, picking up 3-33, while Pakistan’s Haris Rauf claimed 2-31.

The win sees Stars consolidate second place, while Renegades are seventh, two points off the play-offs.