Stars or Thunder? Hazlewood has his say

Sixers paceman Josh Hazlewood would like to see an all-Sydney KFC BBL Final but says he can't see the Thunder beating the Stars tomorrow night.

Melbourne Stars host Sydney Thunder at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday night, with the winner to face Hazlewood's Sixers in the BBL|09 decider at the SCG on Saturday.

The Thunder have won three in a row to storm through the BBL finals, while the Stars have lost four consecutive matches to find themselves in a finals funk.

But despite the contrasting form lines, Hazlewood is tipping the star-studded Melbourne side to come out on top and face the Sixers on the weekend.

"I just can't see (the Thunder) getting home, to be honest," Hazlewood said on this week's episode of The Unplayable Podcast.

"I'll stick with the Stars, I think they'll bounce back.

"I think (Marcus) Stoinis or (Glenn) Maxwell will get runs again and (Adam) Zampa, (Nathan) Coulter-Nile … Haris Rauf, they're too good with the ball so I think they'll bounce back."

Hazlewood says he can sense a big innings from Stars captain Glenn Maxwell after a lean patch with the bat at the back end of the tournament.

Maxwell has a top sore of just 25 in his past six innings, including a score of 16 in the Qualifying final loss to the Sixers on a tacky MCG wicket last week.

But Hazlewood says if the Stars skipper can enter the action with a solid foundation beneath him and can get through his first half-a-dozen deliveries, the Thunder better look out.  

"If he can come in around the ninth or 10th over and they're on 60 or 70 that's enough of a platform for him to do his role," said Hazlewood.

"Even though the wicket made it hard to time the ball the other night (in The Qualifier), he came out and hit a couple out of the middle probably better than anyone.

"He's not far off clicking and it's just about getting those first six or seven balls under his belt and if he's on 20 then it's trouble for the other team."

If the Thunder are to continue their giant-killing ways, having knocked over fourth-placed Hobart and third-placed Adelaide this finals series, Hazlewood says the top order must fire.

Alex Hales has been a dominant force with five half-centuries in his past six innings while captain Callum Ferguson at first-drop has been in sublime form this summer.

Hazlewood knows what it's like to be on the end of a Hales blitz, but says the Englishman and the top three must again get the Thunder off to a flyer if they are to beat the Stars.

"(Hales) has probably got the better of me in the white-ball stuff," Hazlewood said. "He's just a natural striker of the ball, hits them clean from ball one and he opens so there's only two fielders out.

"Quite a big, strong lad and as soon as he hits the gaps it's usually four or six."

Hazlewood continued: "That's probably their weakness, their middle to lower order.

"They probably don't get enough of a hit because just how good those top three are and have been for a number of years.

"Especially 'Ferg' (Ferguson) this year, he's been on fire with Hales and 'Uzzy' (Khawaja).

"But that's probably the key with any team to be fair. If you take three (wickets) in the first three overs the stats go in your favour a lot of the time and it's no different against the Thunder."