0.2 the Curran ploy works, and Warner is on his way back to the shed! Hard length outside off and this seems to stick in the surface. Warner, like he often does, wants to punch this through cover but the lack of pace and the slight tennis-ball bounce means he spoons it straight to Stoinis at extra cover. A two-ball duck for the ST captain and the crowd has been stunned into silence! 1/1

4.2 simple return catch and Usama Mir is on the board early! Fizzed through full on off and this drifts in beautifully. Grips in the surface, sticks and straightens. Weibgen, looking to work to leg, gets a leading edge and pops it straight back to the bowler. And just like that, the Stars have another! 37/2

6.5 holes out to Maxwell, and the Thunder lose their set batter! Mir dangles the carrot on a full length on off and Gilkes bites. The idea is right, but the execution is not. Chunks it off the inside half of the bat and Maxwell, stationed at long on, takes the catch comfortably over his head. Gilkes trudges back and the Thunder lose their third! 52/3

11.6 the reverse-sweep leads to Billings' undoing! This is fuller on the stumps and Billings was always going to have a pop at it. He seems a little undecided on whether he wants to keep it on the ground or get under it completely. In the end, he chips it towards deep backward point, where Curran, despite misjudging the trajectory initially, dives forward and sends Billings on his way! 79/4

17.1 miscued and straight into Handscomb's palms! Excellently-executed slower ball. Pitches on a full length just outside off. Davies looks to smash it into next week and cuts across it too much. Gets height but no distance and Handscomb does the rest, just outside the ring in the mid off region! 118/7

14.5 soft, soft dismissal! Back of a length on leg stump and Garton, rather ambitiously, looks to reverse-ramp it over the off-side ring. Not the shot he should have been playing on a surface that is sluggish, and he finds that out the hard way. Comes right off the toe-end and Rogers could not have hoped for a simpler catch at cover point! 102/5

15.2 Green perishes too, and the Thunder are losing spark! Stoinis badgers that short length outside off and dares Green to take on the bigger square boundaries. He takes up the challenge but comes up second-best. Quite comfortably too. Miscues it straight down Cartwright's throat at deep mid wicket, and the hosts are now six down! 105/6

0.3 Harper was living by the sword, and he now dies by it! Zipped in full on middle and off. The ball hits the seam and nips back in. Harper moves across, trying to lap it away and loses track of the ball completely. Gets nowhere close to it and sees the bails light up soon after. An eventful start to the innings! 6/1

2.2 that has gone a mile up, and taken by Sangha! Fullish on the pads and like so many balls previously, this sticks in the surface. Rogers is early into his flick and the ball goes straight up off the leading edge. Sangha calls early, settles under it in the short extra cover region and snares the chance! 15/2

4.5 Andrews appeals, appeals and appeals, and the finger goes up! This is fired in again, on a length on middle and leg. Handscomb moves across his stumps and then tries to play the sweep. Cannot lay bat on ball, and gets pinned right in front. Handscomb does not even bother with the review, and the Stars are now three down! 27/3

10.2 what a grab by Garton, and the crowd comes to life in Sydney! A bit of a drag-down on middle and leg but it also keeps a little low. Stoinis tugs at it and hits it uppishly without getting under it entirely. Arrows it towards deep mid wicket, where Garton hares in off the fence, lunges forward and scoops it up mere centimetres off the turf! What a moment in the game! 65/4

11.2 the big shot comes, and it leads to Maxwell's downfall! It is an absolute racket in Sydney and you can sense how gigantic this moment could be in this contest! On the shorter side again and apart from sticking in the surface, this spins a mile. Perhaps pitched on leg and ended up outside off, which meant Maxwell could only muster a tame leading edge on his attempted pull. Sangha tracked it well to his left and then gobbled up the chance. The Stars are tottering now! 68/5

14.5 in the air, in the air and taken! Is that the game? Is that the season for the Stars?! Banged in again and following Cartwright outside leg. He looks to help it away but the inward angle makes that untenable. He gets a top edge and deep backward square leg circles around to snaffle up the chance. Perhaps the moment that decides this contest! 89/8

11.3 one brings two, two brings three, and the Stars are falling like a pack of cards now! Digs it into the track, on a back of a length on off. The ball holds like it has done all evening and Curran has a lazy punch at it off the back foot. Cannot keep it down and offers the easiest of catches to Andrews at extra cover. Curran cannot believe what he has done, but he, like five Stars batters before him, has to walk back disappointed! 68/6

12.4 huge lbw appeal, and the umpire upholds it! Pushed in on a full length on middle stump. Does not turn and comes back in with the arm. Mir plays outside the line and gets rapped on the pad. Mir has a chat with his partner and decides to review, just in the nick of time. The big question here is whether this was heading down with the angle. Well, it was not. Clipping the outside of leg stump, with all the other parameters on point. Umpire's Call and Mir has to go! 73/7

17.3 straight to extra cover, and Warner hauls the ball into the air in celebration! Goes for the wide yorker and even though he does not nail it, he gets it beyond Steketee's arc. He goes after it because he has no chance but cannot generate the power he desires. Straight to Warner and the Thunder move closer to a massive win! 113/9

17.6 Warner hammers the final nail in the Stars' coffin and the Sydney Thunder's fairy tale run goes on! From being bottom of the lot last season, to finishing third in the league stages to now being one game away from the title clash - this has been a renaissance and some, and one that the thousands at the venue will cherish for a long, long time! Coming back to the ball. This is on a length, asking Warren if he wants to take on the challenge of the lofted inside-out shot. He says yes but does not get the sort of connection that would have made that venture fruitful. Splices it tamely and Warner was not dropping that in a million years. Smiles, handshakes and embraces in the Thunder camp. They know how much this means and they now know how close they are to winning the entire thing, all over again! 114/10