Stars shake-up batting order for must-win final

Melbourne Stars have listed gloveman Seb Gotch to open the batting in their sudden-death BBL showdown against Sydney Thunder at the MCG.

The Stars, who won the bat flip and will bat first, have shaken up their batting line-up and partnered Gotch with the player of the tournament Marcus Stoinis at the top of the order.

The Thunder have made one change, with paceman Nathan McAndrew coming in for Brendan Doggett.

The winner of tonight’s match will face Sydney Sixers in Saturday night’s BBL Final at the SCG.

The Thunder enter the match with all the momentum having won their past three games, sneaking into the finals in fifth place before upsetting Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers away from home.

Conversely, the Stars have suffered a slump in form at the wrong time, losing their past four games.

After finishing the regular season in first place with 10 wins from 14 matches, the Stars lost their Qualifying Final against second-placed Sydney Sixers to relinquish the chance of hosting the Final on Saturday.

Fortunately for the Stars, the new-look BBL finals system introduced this season affords the top two teams a second chance should they lose in their first finals match.

The Stars have won their past three games against the Thunder, including both matches this season.

Stars XI: Marcus Stoinis, Seb Gotch (wk), Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Clint Hinchliffe, Adam Zampa, Daniel Worrall, Haris Rauf

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