Preview: It's a knockout! Strikers face Thunder

What's happening?

It's time for The Knockout! It's the third of the KFC Big Bash finals and will be played between the Adelaide Strikers, who finished third overall, and the Sydney Thunder, who earned their spot here courtesy of their win over the Hobart Hurricanes in The Eliminator on Thursday night.

When and where is it?

It's at 7.10pm on Saturday at the Adelaide Oval. That's local time, so 7.40pm AEDT.

How can I watch, listen or follow the scores?

The match will be broadcast live on Channel 7 and Fox Cricket, streamed on Kayo Sports and available on Macquarie Sports Radio and Big Bash Nation. Live scores here.

Form guide

The Strikers had the perfect form leading into their final match of the regular season, with four wins on the trot against the Heat, Hurricanes, Stars and Scorchers. But a record partnership from Matthew Wade and D'Arcy Short consigned the Adelaide outfit to their third loss at home for the season.

The Thunder needed a win over the Scorchers in a rain-affected match to scrape into finals, but once there, they immediately looked the part. They dominated the sudden-death Eliminator against the Hurricanes on Thursday night and will be riding a wave of momentum in the match-up with the Strikers. 

Head to head

Heavy smoke in Canberra forced the abandonment of the first fixture between these sides in BBL|09, but only after the Strikers had set 162 to win following 55no from Jonathan Wells.

When the sides met 10 days later in the annual New Year's Eve match in Adelaide, we were treated to one of the best finishes of the season. Callum Ferguson was Player of the Match for his 73 off 46 balls, but the game will be remembered for the electrifying innings of Rashid Khan (40 off only 18 balls) which nearly lifted the Strikers to an unlikely victory. The Thunder came out winners by just three runs.

Across all nine editions of the Big Bash League, the Strikers hold a narrow advantage; they've won six, the Thunder have won five and there have been two matches with no result. The Thunder players will have fond memories of the Adelaide Oval, obviously from their win earlier in this campaign, but also from BBL|05, where they defeated the Strikers in the semi-final on the back of Usman Khawaja's dominant 104no off 59 balls.

The squads

Strikers: Travis Head (c), Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, Rashid Khan, Michael Neser, Liam O'Connor, Phil Salt, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells

Thunder: Callum Ferguson (c), Liam Bowe, Jonathan Cook, Brendan Doggett, Alex Hales, Usman Khawaja, Jay Lenton, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Morris, Arjun Nair, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Chris Tremain

Key players

Phil Salt: English opener Phil Salt has hit form at the right end of the tournament, with three of his four 50-plus scores in BBL|09 coming in the final five matches. The Strikers will be hoping he lights up the Powerplay again because the contrast between his form in wins and losses is stark; in T20 matches he wins he averages 31.7 at a strike rate of 163.5, in matches he loses, he averages only 18.6 at a strike rate of 139.6.

Chris Morris: The South African allrounder has had an up-and-down competition, with some match-winning performances mixed in with some rather forgettable ones. Morris has been the bowler captain Ferguson has relied on most between overs 16-20, bowling 16.1 overs in that period, the sixth-most in the competition. They'll need all his experience – 207 matches' worth – to keep this Strikers line-up in check.

The stats

Sitting in second spot in the BKT Golden Bat race, Alex Hales (Thunder) is enjoying success at his fourth BBL club, having previously represented the Renegades, Strikers and Hurricanes. His 509 runs is easily his most productive BBL tournament to date.

Strikers opener Jake Weatherald has been instrumental in getting his side off to fast starts this season, and only Josh Inglis from the Scorchers (281 runs) has more runs in the first six overs than Weatherald's 250.

Daniel Sams from the Thunder is the BKT Golden Arm leader with 27 wickets, and he's taken almost half of his scalps (13) in overs 16-20 as the opposition is looking to explode. That's the most of any bowler in that period in BBL|09, with Peter Siddle (Strikers) second with 11.

Jon Wells (Strikers) has well and truly established himself as a middle-order specialist in this year's BBL. He has been extremely effective in the final five overs of the innings, with his 241 runs in that period the best in the competition and streets ahead of second place, Glenn Maxwell's 156.