Preview: Win or go home for Thunder, Hurricanes

What's happening?

The first of the KFC Big Bash finals, that's what! It's called the 'Eliminator', with the fourth-placed Hurricanes playing the fifth-placed Thunder in a do-or-die clash. The winner will play the Adelaide Strikers in 'The Knockout' on Saturday night. 

When and where is it?

It's 7.40pm Thursday at Blundstone Arena, Hobart.

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. You can keep up to speed with the live scores here.

Form guide

With only three wins from their first 11 matches (one washout) the Hurricanes won their last three matches to storm into fourth spot and secure a home final.

The Thunder looked set for finals early on after a strong start to BBL|09 (the only loss from their first five matches came in a Super Over), but only locked in their spot courtesy of a nail-biting final-over win against the Scorchers on Australia Day.

Head to head

It's one win apiece between the sides so far in BBL|09, with the home side winning on both occasions.

The Thunder won the first encounter on January 11 by four wickets after Alex Hales' 55 from 36 balls. The Hurricanes reversed the result on January 24 however, with half-centuries to Mac Wright and Matthew Wade and a five-wicket haul to D'Arcy Short setting up a comfortable 57-run win.

Across all nine editions of the Big Bash League, the Hurricanes have won eight of the 12 matches between the sides. At Blundstone Arena, the sides have played seven times with the Hurricanes winning six.

The squads

Hurricanes: Matthew Wade (c), Qais Ahmad, George Bailey, Scott Boland, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, James Faulkner, Ben McDermott (wk), Simon Milenko, Tom Rogers, Clive Rose, D'Arcy Short, Mac Wright

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

Key players

D'Arcy Short: He currently has the best bowling figures in BBL|09 (5-21), but D'Arcy Short's main threat comes with bat in hand. Basically, if he fires at the top of the order, Hobart will win; he's scored 70+ on seven occasions in the BBL, and the Hurricanes have won every time. 

Callum Ferguson: 'Captain Cal' has revelled in his first season in charge of the Sydney Thunder, displaying excellent captaincy nous and making the No.3 position his own. It's no surprise that the Thunder's form has mirrored his own; he started in hot form with the bat as the Thunder barely lost, and recently he's been short of runs as his side scraped into finals.

The stats

After a slow start to BBL|09, Alex Hales (Thunder) has shot up to equal second in the BKT Golden Bat race, with 449 runs from 14 innings. The English opener is hitting form at the right time; his last three scores have been 85 (from 59 balls), 63 (42) and 47 (27).

In his first BBL campaign, Nathan Ellis (Hurricanes) has become a key man for the Hurricanes. Ellis has been entrusted with bowling at the death, so much so that no player in the competition has bowled more overs at the death (overs 16-20) than Ellis's 20.1.

The current BKT Golden Arm is Daniel Sams (Thunder), who has consistently produced brilliant spells to sit on 25 wickets from 14 matches. He's hasn't just been taking wickets either, he's also bowled the sixth-most dot balls in the competition (108), which equates to 37 per cent of his deliveries.

James Faulkner (Hurricanes) has taken three wickets in the first over of an innings this season in the BBL; the most by any bowler.

Matthew Wade (Hurricanes) has put together three scores of 50+ in succession ahead of this contest, recording 66, 56 and 130no in that time. No batsman has gone on a longer such run this season in the BBL (Marcus Stoinis from the Melbourne Stars also recorded three).

George Bailey (Hurricanes) currently has 49 sixes in the BBL – if he hits one more he will become the 18th player to reach 50.