Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder battle it out for a chance to face Melbourne Stars at the MCG next week
Both teams unchanged, Thunder bat first in Adelaide
Adelaide Strikers have kept the faith with beanpole paceman Billy Stanlake for their Knockout KFC BBL final against Sydney Thunder as both sides named unchanged XIs.
Strikers captain Travis Head won the bat flip and elected to bowl first at Adelaide Oval where earlier inclement weather has cleared and the forecast is for a dry, mild evening for the third versus fifth clash.
Stanlake coughed up 22 runs from his sole over in the Hobart Hurricanes' record onslaught in the Strikers' most recent match and has just four wickets in 10 games with an economy rate of 8.86.
But the 204cm quick, who is capable of hitting 150kph, kept his place in the side, edging out fellow quick Harry Conway and leg-spinner Liam O'Connor.
The Thunder, who have won both their encounters with the Strikers this summer, are also unchanged having defeated the fourth-placed Hurricanes at Blundstone Arena on Thursday.
The Strikers' defeat to Hobart last week snapped a four-game winning streak which helped them reach third spot on the table.
The Thunder face a daunting route to the tournament decider after winning their Eliminator final, the first of three straight victories at away venues they require to make next Saturday's Final against cross-town rivals Sydney Sixers.
But the western Sydney outfit believe their busy schedule could be an advantage.
"Throughout the season you're not used to having six or seven days off," said Thunder spinner Jonathan Cook, who returned a career-best 4-21 against the Hurricanes.
"Whoever wins tomorrow night out of the Stars and Sixers, they have (eight) days off, which doesn't really happen during the season.
"If you make that finals and you play those three or four games it can be a real benefit, particularly if make the final, you've won three games (in a row) so you've got that momentum and you know your plans.
"If anything, using that momentum and not going six or seven days without playing, it can be a massive advantage come finals."
Strikers XI: Philip Salt, Jake Weatherald, Travis Head (c), Alex Carey (wk), Jonathan Wells, Matt Short, Michael Neser, Rashid Khan, Peter Siddle, Wes Agar, Billy Stanlake
Thunder XI: Alex Hales, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson (c), Alex Ross, Arjun Nair, Chris Morris, Daniel Sams, Jay Lenton (wk), Chris Tremain, Jono Cook, Brendan Doggett