Hobart Hurricanes clinched a thriller against Melbourne Stars in the rain-affected Knockout by three runs to seal their spot in the Challenger. Hurricanes will face Sydney Sixers on Friday for a place in the final at the SCG. For the Stars, it was yet another season of heartbreak as they failed to clinch the trophy and remain the only side in the Big Bash to have not lifted the title.

The rain arrived before the bat flip in Hobart and delayed play for over two hours after which Stars won the bat flip and put Hurricanes into bat in rainy conditions. In a 10-over contest, Mitchell Owen smashed Glenn Maxell for a six in the opening over before being stumped two balls later. Tim Ward and Beau Webster smashed three boundaries off Tom Curran as Hurricanes added 15 off the second over.

Webster continued to find the boundaries taking two more of Peter Siddle. Highest-wicket-taker of the Big Bash, Haris Rauf, picked up Tim Ward before Ben McDermott hit two fours off his first two balls. Overs five to seven yielded only six runs. Nikhil Chaudhary hit three sixes in the space of six balls as Rauf conceded 18 in his second over but also got the wicket of the dangerous Chaudhary. Webster smashed three sixes in the final over as the Hurricanes got to 114 for 5 in the last 10 overs, with 50 runs scored off the last three overs.

Hurricanes bowled two quiet overs Riley Meredith picked Thomas Rogers for four before the rain came back and interrupted proceedings again. The 10-minute hiatus reduced Stars' chase to seven overs, and with two overs already bowled, the equation was 76 off the last 30 balls. Joe Clarke and Sam Harper took 11 off the third over before scoring 13 off the fourth. Clarke then hit consecutive boundaries off Meredith before departing for 31 off 17.

44 runs were needed off 15 balls as the rain was steady in Hobart. A boundary off the last ball by Harper brought it down to 37 off the last two before he was retired out. Barring a six, Rishad Hossain kept his composure in the penultimate over to leave the Stars requiring 26 off the last over. Stars' captain Marcus Stoinis hit the first ball off the final over for six before he sliced it straight to deep backward-point. With 19 required off the last four balls, Hilton Cartwright slammed 4,4,6 as the equation came down to five off the final delivery. Owen kept his composure off the final ball and bowled a wide yorker as Cartwright could only squeeze it for a single as the Hurricanes clinched victory by three runs.

Brief Scores: Hobart Hurricanes 114/5 in 10 overs (Beau Webster 47, Nikhil Chaudhary 24; Haris Rauf 2-27, Marcus Stoinis 1-6) beat Melbourne Stars 81/4 in 7 overs (Joe Clarke 31, Hilton Cartwright 15*; Riley Meredith 2-19, Mitchell Owen 1-22) by three runs [DLS]