Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars: Big Bash Wednesday preview

Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars will be fighting to keep their BBL season alive when they go head-to-head at ENGIE Stadium on Wednesday night.

The winner of the Knockout match will head into the Challenger, one step away from the final, while the loser will see their tournament come to and end.

The Stars are in top form after winning their last five BBL games on the bounce to make finals, and they are the hot fancies to progress.

Along with the Hurricanes, the Stars have yet to win a BBL title, and may be starting to think this could be their year.

However the Thunder have already beaten the Stars once this season and also have home advantage on their side.

It is all set up for a thrilling do-or-die clash in Sydney.

Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars betting preview

Thunder stutter into finals

Sydney Thunder did all their best work at the start of the Big Bash League, winning four of their opening five games.

It was enough to get them into finals, finishing third on the ladder, but recent form suggests they have work to do against the Stars.

Their only win in the last five games came against Perth Scorchers, when they won on home soil by 61 runs.

Sam Konstas was the star with the bat in that win, scoring 53 runs, but Tom Andrews was player of the match with 37 not-out and 1/20.

Two of the games ended with no-result due to the weather, including the final game of the regular season against the Sixers.

The Thunder have already beaten the Stars this campaign when they won by 18 runs at Manuka Oval, but the Melbourne side have improved since then.

Maxwell the man for Stars

Melbourne Stars lost the opening five games of the season, but came bouncing back to win the next five, which booked their place in finals.

The Stars turnaround in fortunes is partly down to the form of inspirational all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who has shone with the bat.

Maxwell has been named player of the match in each of the last three games having scored 58 not-out, 90 and 76 not-out.

That last knock came in the win over the Hurricanes on Sunday and both Maxwell and the Stars will be full of confidence.

It is not all good news for the Stars however as they will be missing Beau Webster for finals.

Either Peter Handscomb or Jon Merlo could be called up as a replacement player, but Webster will be missed.

Mark Steketee will look to carry his good form into the Thunder clash. The bowler took 4/24 off 3.3 overs in the 40-run win over the Canes.

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Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars odds

Sydney Thunder - 2.15
Melbourne Stars - 1.72

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.