Stars no choke for Thunder

CRICKET: After finishing last four times, there’s not many teams in the Big Bash that the Sydney Thunder can say they’ve got it all over.

The big exception is the Melbourne Stars.

The Stars are the tournament’s best-performed team in regular competition games but they’re the worst in the playoffs. The easybeats, aka the chokers.

It’s the cruellest tag in professional sport but one they won’t shed until they win the BBL but to do that, they need to beat the Thunder at the MCG then the Sixers at the SCG.

The Thunder – the only franchise in the BBL never to have lost a playoff match – won’t be lured into calling the Stars chokers for fear it backfires on them but they’re not avoiding the elephant in the room either.

“It certainly doesn’t help if you’ve got a record where you’re losing finals,” Thunder coach Shane Bond (pictured) said. “I think there’s an underlying pressure because people keep reminding them.

“As much as you talk about ignoring it and it’s just another game, I think psychologically it has an impact because it’s something you want to get off your back.”

While the Stars are being lampooned for their hopeless playoff record the rumble from the Thunder is growing louder.

Chasing their second BBL title after beating the Stars in the 2016 final, they’ve shown nerves of steel to beat the Perth Scorchers in a nailbiter just to make the semis, then the Hobart Hurricanes and the Adelaide Strikers away from home to be within one win of joining the Sixers in Saturday’s grand final.